Forsaken
by LuxahHeart
Summary: Divorce? That wasn't a word I was expecting, but the look on her face told me I hadn't heard her wrong. Divorce, that one sweet word that passed her lips held my freedom. I'm not surprised though, we've lived in an arranged marriage for so long. I was tired of it, I know she was too. I never could do it though, the contract disallowed me to. Yaoi. KaixRay. Blood, death, lemons.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note:**

 **Hello and welcome to Forsaken. Had some random thoughts pop up in me head, so I figured why not write it out? Seemed like a good idea at the time at least.**

 **This story takes place 10 years after the third season of the American anime, incorporating the Bladebreakers children from the manga. Beyond that, the story line follows the anime, not the manga as I never read it fully.**

 **This is an M rated fic, death, blood, lemons, gore, all that good stuff will come into play. This is yaoi, as I am an avid KaixRai shipper. I have an idea where I want to take this, but a lot of times my stories take left turns at unexpected spots. So, enjoy this roller-coaster of a fic.**

 **I don't own Beyblade or it's characters.**

* * *

Divorce? That wasn't a word I was expecting, but the look on her face told me I hadn't heard her wrong. Divorce, that one sweet word that passed her lips held my freedom. I'm not surprised though, we've lived in an arranged marriage for so long. I was tired of it, I knew she was too. I never could do it though, the contract disallowed me to. She needed to be the one, and it's finally happening. Took ten years too long, but now it was happening.

She must have suspected me to protest, beg for her forgiveness. The look on her face was priceless when all I did was smile, her eyes ablaze with anger and fury. I don't care _love_.

With a huff she wipes her flustered cheeks, I cross my arms across my chest; waiting. She doesn't speak for a while, our eyes locked onto the others; waiting.

"This is it then?" She finally sighs out to me, and I nod at her words.

I'm overjoyed but I can't find my voice yet, lest it betray me and I shout to the heavens for blessing this day. Ten years I had been locked to her, I was in my thirty's now. Betrothed at 17, married at 18 and two years later we had our first, and only, child; Goh. Spitting image of me, I was a bit surprised when the doctors placed him in my arms. He was nearing eight years old now and already a prodigy in his own right; always making me proud.

It was a loveless marriage, yes, but it wasn't a sexless one. More out of the sheer want than need, sex to me isn't a need. I can live without it, I just chose not to. It wasn't a surprise to me we only had one child, since the want hardly ever occurred. Not to say she wasn't beautiful in her own right, she was dazzling, Voltaire had picked out a looker. It didn't surprise me, the Hiwatari blood-lines were all lookers in their own respective rights, and we, he, wanted to make sure it stayed that way.

She huffs again and eyes my face; the smile was still plastered there for her to see. I don't think she liked it, I knew she loved me. I tried, I won't deny that, but it wasn't who I was. Every year we were together a piece of me kept chipping away, this wasn't how I wanted my life to be.

Then again, most of my life was not how I wanted it to be. Dropped off at the Abbey at the age of six, poked and prodded for nights on end. Training till my fingers bled, my body wrecked with pain and hopelessness. Dark nights were my only company, the others crying in their rooms falling on my deaf ears. It wasn't until I found Black Dranzer did I finally find my escape, living in Japan for a few years till _he_ showed back up.

After that my life seemed to be spiraling out of control again, I couldn't stop it, part of me didn't want it to when I was given that forsaken blade again. Though unknowingly to me, I had made friends and they saved me from myself. The years kept rushing over me and I found peace, beybattles left and right, keeping me occupied since I knew it wouldn't take long for the happy days to end. End they did, coming to a screeching halt and slapping me right across my face. My birthday, I was now 17 and ready to be sent off away, away from my friends; my true family. I know I shouldn't reminisce about the past, not while still in a heated argument with my soon to be ex, but it's a better time now than not. It's not like I'm paying attention to her sudden outburst of words anyways.

I remember it well, it's a memory I cherish above all else. Tyson and the others were all busy trying to 'surprise' me, even though I could hear their party planning downstairs. We all shared a house together, having enough money split between us through our years of being celebrity beybladers. I was alone in my room, sitting and starring at my packed bags on the floor in front of me. I had gotten the letter two days before, since then I hadn't said or done much. The others all seemed oblivious, except _him._ Somehow, he had always seemed to catch on to me when I was upset, for a while he had almost become my second shadow and followed me just about anywhere.

We were the two oldest, often paired in rooms on our trips. Sitting together on planes or busses, paired together for tag-team matches. He was like a mother hen towards me, constantly checking in on me asking me how I was feeling. I had changed, but not to the point where I sat and cried my heart out about my problems. We held civil conversations, mainly because he was the only one able to do so. Tyson was too bouncy and air headed, Max was about the same, but he held it in better. I hardly knew Daichi, and he was the worst of the other two, always bouncing around and shouting at Tyson about something. Kenny was always too absorbed with his data, and Tyson. Hilary was a woman, and I knew if I were to talk about my problems she'd find a way to make it about her. Ray…

Ray on the other hand always sat and listened, never speaking until he felt he had the room to give some words. Some were comfortable, others were stern warnings. He was right half the time, I didn't always have to do what Voltaire dictated. So, I wondered how I ended up in this 10-year rut then? Why didn't I listen to him when he came that day, he was right; always was. But he didn't know what I knew, and now he was wrong for once.

 **Flashback**

Still sitting on my bed just starring at the now empty walls, everything packed in boxes and ready to go. My door creaked open, I knew he had knocked but I didn't give an answer.

"Hey." He greeted, one of his fangs poking over his bottom lip. I nodded to him as he took a seat on my bed beside me, he looked around the room taking it all in.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He sounded hurt, I didn't want to hurt him. "Just going to disappear into the night, like always then huh?" He sighed when I gave him no response.

"I wish you weren't doing this…" He sighed and laid out beside me on his back, hands tucked under his bush of raven hair and closing his eyes. "You don't have to." His voice trembled a bit, it broke my heart.

"Ray." I had finally found my voice, and it trembled back. "I have too." I breathed out, clenching my hands in my lap trying to still their shaking. He didn't need to see me this weak, only a few times had I allowed that.

"Why? What can he possibly do to you now? You don't have to, stay with us Kai, with… With me…" During his speech he had jumped up, a shaking hand clamped on my shoulder.

I gave him a questioning look, something in the way his eyes quivered caused my breath to hitch. Before I knew it, he was leaning closer until his lips brushed mine. I froze, unsure what to do. I wasn't disgusted, as one might have thought I'd be. I was just more in shock than anything, yet I reacted. Pulling him closer, our lips molding into each other. His breath was warm, it tickled my upper lip and I pulled him on my lap. A squeak of some sort came from him as he settled on me, my arms going around his waist to keep him there.

I'm not gay, at least that's what I thought. No, I just needed some kind of comfort and he was there. We parted, breathless as we both had soon forgotten to breath during the exchange and his eyes danced over my face. I don't know what he was looking for, but I don't think he found it. His eyes downcast and he pried himself from my lap; my arms. I wanted to stop him, he felt warm and comforting and like he belonged there. My arms dropped to my side, I didn't know what to say. I had never experienced these kinds of feelings before, what was wrong with me?

"I'm sorry…" He mumbled keeping his eyes away from mine.

"Me too." I sighed out, having regained my normal cold tone and I saw him flinch at my words.

"I um… I'll see you downstairs then." He motioned for the door before he walked away, the door clicking shut behind him.

My gaze fixated on the damn thing, wishing it would open back up and he'd come back. Somehow, I screwed up. I don't know how or what it was I did, but I knew that I messed this up; whatever _this_ was.

When I had gone downstairs, mainly to entertain the other's efforts for throwing me a party. He wasn't my shadow any longer, he kept far away only catching my eyes every so often. Nobody noticed the strange exchange between us, and for that I was glad. I already had too much on my mind to deal with their incessant questions, without any other problems I actually had enjoyed the little party they threw for me. Part of that was because I would no longer be here come morning, it hurt but only a bit.

I had debated telling them, though they didn't need to know. It wasn't their problem, it was mine. I'd be alright, so I told myself. Voltaire's driver came quietly in the night, taking my things to the car while I looked around my room one last time. It was so bare and empty, much like how I felt. With a sigh I left, pausing briefly at the door to my right.

Not thinking, least that's what I told myself. I opened the door slightly, he was curled up in a ball on his bed, the sheets pulled around him tightly. He looked peaceful enough and I didn't want to wake him, so I treaded carefully over to him. My breath hitched once more in my throat, regaining my senses; or lack thereof. I placed a kiss on his soft tan skin, first it started at the top of his forehead and I couldn't find myself to stop there. My lips danced over his cheek, forehead again and he stirred a bit until he was on his back and my lips met his.

"Kai…" He breathed in his sleep, barely moving or waking.

I pulled away and smiled at him, I knew I'd miss him and it hurt more than I'd care to admit.

"Goodbye, Ray…" I brushed his bangs back before retreating out of his room.

Not once did I look back, I was whisked away in the middle of the night. The only one to know of my departure was him, and I didn't envy him when morning came and the others were bound to ask him what happened. Part of me wonders what he did tell them, if he told them of our exchange or not, he didn't know my reasons. Nobody knew why I left, aside from Voltaire and myself. I did it for him, for them. I don't blame them, it wasn't their fault to begin with. These past ten years were no one's fault but my own, and Voltaire's. I had no contact with any of them, they didn't know if I was alive or not; or I them.

 **Present Day**

"Well?" Her voice was cutting through my memories, like a hot knife to butter.

"What?" I snapped, and shifted.

We were still there, in our living room surrounded by our luxurious possessions. Part of me wondered if she was going to take it all, I didn't care; she could have everything.

"I asked you when you wanted to get this done." She sighed, realizing that I had been blocking her out for the past few minutes.

"Soon as possible."

"What do you suppose we tell our son?" She raised one of her overly thin eyebrows at me.

"Dunno." I shrugged, I hadn't given it much thought. I cared though, I loved my son; just not her.

"He's a bright kid, I don't think we should hide this from him." She spoke again, and I nodded.

"I tried, Kai…" She sighed again, a look of pleading crossing her features.

"I know." But I didn't care.

"Alright… I'll call our lawyers tomorrow." She huffed before walking out of the doorway.

Another smile crossed my lips as I watched her dark hair disappear around the corner of the wall, finally alone I glanced at the painting of Voltaire that hung above my fireplace. The smile turned to a smirk and I flicked it off, it was silly of me to do I know, but it felt good even if it wasn't really him.

* * *

That night we had the honor of entertaining Voltaire at dinner, I was sure she had called him here to try and persuade me to change my mind. I didn't budge, hardly looking at him through the entire dinner. The tension would have choked anyone who wasn't used to it, I was and welcomed the challenge. I'd be dammed if he took this from me, I gave him what he wanted for ten years of my life. More of it even through all the other years of my bane existence, he wasn't taking this now.

I could feel his old eyes trying to burn a hole in my head, I smirked at the prospect. Maybe he shouldn't have been such a prick to me, making sure I was bred for world domination; it might have worked otherwise. Goh, my sweet innocent child sat bewildered and confused. He had no idea what was going on and my heart went out to him, truly it did. He wasn't a part of this plan, it just happened but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. I was glad to be a father, maybe one of the only things I'd ever done right.

"Kai." Voltaire called, ice in his voice.

"Yes." I didn't give him the satisfaction of looking at him.

"We should discuss this, alone." I could feel him tense at the head of the table, normally where I sat but he took it upon himself to show me he was the one in charge; not for long.

I stood quietly, Goh's eyes not leaving my body as I stalked out of the dining room. I could feel Voltaire on my heel like a dark looming shadow on my back, I didn't flinch. He never really scared me, I only made him think he did. Once we were safely away from innocent ears and tear-filled eyes, he rounded on me in my study. A back hand to my lower jaw, snapping my head around; I didn't falter.

"I am very displeased with you grandson." He bellowed, he was shorter than me and it almost made me laugh how much I towered over him. He looked like a chicken, trying to puff out its chest to show its dominance.

"You've had a wonderful life, why must you disobey me more?"

"I've lived a lie, ten years Voltaire. I think I deserve some kind of congratulations at that, putting up the front of the perfect husband and family for all your associates." I bit back, swallowing the blood that came from my split lip.

"You know what the contract states…" He threatened.

I had read that thing so many times it appeared whenever I closed my eyes, I knew it better than he did. I nodded, a smirk crossing my features which he didn't seem to like either. To be honest, I don't think anyone ever liked it when I did that.

"You will lose everything, everything I have given you. Your holdings in my company will fall apart, your wealth will be stripped from you. All for what?"

"Does it matter to you?" I scorned, I knew he knew. That's why I was in this mess to begin with.

"It does Kai, I will not let you shame our family name!" He bellowed again. "Out of the generosity of my heart, I only allowed it all to go on as long as it had. You knew the consequences if you disobeyed me. I was pleased when you came to your senses, and now this?!"

"You're right, I did know the consequences. That's why I chose to obey you, to protect them. Since you asked though, the contract says that once I made good on our deal you wouldn't do anything to any of them. I made good on it, all of it. Ten, long god forsaken years. You got an heir to carry the name, the fortune. I'm not needed anymore, and I can careless about this false wealth. It's all in your name anyways." He didn't like my words as another hand came at my jaw, splitting my lip further as my neck almost snapped.

"Don't think a simple piece of parchment, can stop me from doing what I wish." He threatened, and my head whirled to where our eyes locked.

I didn't take lightly to threats, not when it concerned them. These past ten years would have been a waste of my time, if that was all it would take. Him ignoring what he wrote out, what he promised. I can't say I'm surprised, I'm really not. I don't feel betrayed, I feel like I knew this would have happened. I don't want it to, I wanted to protect them; had to protect them.

"Bastard." I spit the blood out at his feet, our eyes still locked on each other's.

He let out a boisterous laugh, his round stomach joyfully bouncing in his fit. I growled at him, narrowing my eyes. He wasn't going to win, not anymore. I would have my freedom; but not at their expense. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, maybe I had and life made me forget. He must not have liked the expression on my face now, his laughing fit subsided and he looked a bit worried.

"Care to share your thoughts, grandson?" God, I hate it when he calls me that, it makes my skin crawl.

I didn't answer, I wouldn't tell him. He looks me over figuring our discussion was through and he turns on his heel. His cloak whipping behind him as he storms out of the study, the door slamming behind him so hard it shakes the walls. I let out the air I had been holding in, the stinging in my jaw had started to die out. I knew there would be a bruise, my split lip would heal on its own. I would have to lie to Goh about how I got it, I hated lying to him.

Finding my way to my desk at the end of the room I sat down in the leather chair, resting my nerves. I'm sure it wouldn't take long for Voltaire to figure out what I was planning, I didn't care. I needed to protect myself, them. He needed to die, surprisingly he wasn't going to on his own just yet; even though he was nearing 90. Before he could kill them, my friends, Ray. I had to kill him and I knew exactly who to call for the job.

"Tala?" I called into the phone, having dialed the all too familiar number.

"Hey Kai." He sounded happier than usual.

"Got a job for you and Bryan." I felt a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth, but I stopped it.

"Bout damn time." Tala snorted on the other end, causing the smirk to come full force.

"How soon?"

"Whenever you're ready." His happy tone only intensified with his words.

"Sunday." I hung up the phone, resting against the back of the chair; satisfied.

For the first time in ten years, I was happy. I was going to be free.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:**

 **Hey, how you doing? Here's chapter two of this spur of the moment fic that popped in my head. The narration will bounce around from Kai to Ray, not in any particular order.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter either way.**

* * *

"So, are you going to be coming then Ray?" Tyson asked, I could seriously see the smile on his goofy face.

"Yeah, I think Rin will really like it." I chuckled back into the phone, God I had missed his voice.

"Awesome, don't be too sore when Makoto wipes the floor with her." Tyson joked, and all I could do was snort. We said our goodbyes from our phone call, not realizing I had been on the phone with him for so long.

Hyper active, bouncy, goofy face and grin, an ego so big he doesn't know what to do with it? All check, Tyson never changes; but I'm glad. It's been a while since I've heard from him, and I'm glad he called; I've missed him, all of them. It was just never the same all these ten years since we left each other. Pretty much after Kai snuck out into the night, we all went our separate ways.

Yeah, they asked me what happened to him. I lied, the heart break I had was too much and I couldn't tell them the truth. Tyson and I have kept in touch here and there, his son will be about seven soon enough, while my own daughter is six. Prime age to start entering Beyblade tournaments, that's what Tyson had called me about anyways.

Rin's pretty small, even for her age, but boy can she blade with the best of them. I'm sure it helped having me as a father and Mariah as her mother, along with the other White Tigers. We are still a pretty small village, all there is to do is blade so I'm not surprised. Tyson has no idea what he just got his son into, I kind of pity Makoto now. This will be the first time she's ever left China, I dunno if she'll be alright or not. She's pretty adaptable, so I'm not too worried.

"So, what did Tyson want?" Mariah asks me as she walks into our bedroom, a smile on her face and her eyes gleaming with question.

"Guess there's going to be a tournament coming up in Japan, asked if we'd like to take Rin." I answered, stuffing my cell in my back pocket.

"Oh, she'll be so excited" She claps her hands together and bounced out of the room. Leave it to my wife to take things in charge and go tell our daughter the exciting news.

With a sigh I sit on the edge of the bed, glancing around my room as if it's the first time I've ever been in it. It's not very big, most of the houses around here don't even have separate rooms like ours, so I guess I shouldn't be too upset. Simple queen-sized bed, dresser in the corner, a reading chair in the other corner by the bed. Everything's accounted for, I suppose. Then I stop, starring at the picture that sits on my side table.

It's of the Bladebreakers, god we were so young. I can feel a smile crossing my lips as I pluck it off the table, eyes glancing over the picture in the simple wooden frame. Tyson, Max, and Kenny in the front, Kai and I in the back. No matter how many times I look at this picture, my eyes always fall over our ex-captain and that serene smile on his lips. Ten years later, married with a child, you'd think I'd have gotten over it all. You'd be dead wrong.

Sure, I love Mariah and Rin dearly, but I know I was never giving my full heart to her like a real husband should have. She was more of a rebound, and it just stuck. Nobody was the wiser, and yeah, I should feel ashamed; but I'm not. What can I say? When you fall, and fall as hard as I did, you just aren't the same after that. I worried, nights on end about him and where he went off too. Our final goodbye etched into my brain so permanently, it made me cry more than I cared to admit.

Was it my fault, I often wondered? Surely it couldn't have been, we were close but never that close until it was too late. Tyson hadn't picked a fight with him for days, so it wasn't that either. I know I mentioned his grandfather, but what could he have done now? Kai never said, just up and left. I should hate him, but I can't.

A small glint of hope somehow made its way into my stomach, what if he came to Japan for the tournament? Nobodies heard of him in ten years, so the odds aren't really leaning in my favor. Not to mention I'm married, but really, I just want to see him. I want to know, NEED to know that he's been alright. A thought crosses my mind, I could call Dickenson, he'd know if Kai would be coming. The man was like a second grandfather to him after all, at least that's how it always looked to me.

Setting the picture back to its resting place I fish out my phone, going to Dickenson's number and waiting for the ringing to die as I place it by my ear. My heart is racing, it's just a simple question, I don't know why I'm acting this way. Then again, I do.

"Ray my boy, it's good to hear from you." Dickenson, you never changed either.

"Pretty good. Hey, I was just on the phone with Tyson a bit ago about the new tournament coming up. My daughter, Rin, will be entering and all… And… I was just wondering if you've heard if Kai has a kid, that might be entering?" I managed to stutter out my question, I hope he didn't notice. Though again, he knew we were all still a bit sore about the sudden departure of our captain.

"I'm sorry Ray, but as far as I know there's no child with his surname entering." He sighed, I sighed.

"Thanks Mr. D. I appreciate it. I guess I'll be seeing you in a few weeks then." I sighed again, hanging up the phone after he gave me a sincere goodbye.

"Ray, are you alright?" Mariah comes back in the room, standing against the door frame.

"Yeah." I lie, giving her a toothy grin to hide the pain in my chest.

* * *

"Tyson, Max!" I wave at them as they wave back at me, Max sure has gotten taller.

With a pack slung over my shoulder, Mariah's bag rolling behind her and Rin's pink back pack over her, we're walking towards them from un-boarding our plane. They're standing behind the roped off section, I can see the joy in their eyes as we approach. Tyson and I clap hands together in a friendly manly grip, our eyes locking into the others; just like old times.

"It's so good to see you guys." Mariah beams at them, having to almost break her neck to look up at Max. Damn, he is tall.

"You too." And his voice is really deep. "We got a car outside for us, c'mon." He waved over his shoulder as he turns, leading us out of the dingy airport.

Mariah and Rin's hands are clasped together as they walk behind me, as much as I want to feel happy I can't. Sure, it's amazing to see the guys again, but it's not the same when one of us is missing. It never was, that's why we were always so adamant about keeping him with us. We climb into the car provided by the other two, I'm assuming it's Tysons seeing as how there's food wrappers all over the floor board.

Rin settles down between Mariah and I in the back, Max taking the passenger seat as Tyson climbs in behind the wheel. That goofy grin plastered on his face as he looks back at us through the rear-view mirror.

"Had a good flight?" He asks, putting the car into gear as we leave the parking garage.

"It was decent enough." I chuckle nervously, I hate flying.

"Well Hil and the others are at the house, they'll be pretty stoked to see you guys." Max offers, almost ignoring the nervousness in my words.

The ride to the house, which I was surprised to see it wasn't the dojo, was pretty quiet. Rin had shifted a few times during the ride, I knew she was nervous and rested my hand on her knee to help calm her. She smiled at me and went back to watching out the front window, Max and Tyson had been in their own private conversation while Mariah was busy putting on last bits of make up before we pulled up the drive.

This was it, the same house. My breath hitched in my throat, why would they have held onto this? I could feel my legs weak under me as I crawled out of the car, eyes darting around at the so familiar look of the outside.

"Brings back some memories, doesn't it?" Tyson asks, noticing my expression.

"Yeah." I managed to breath out, trying to regain myself. "Why?"

"Didn't want to let it go, plus it's close to the BBA and Max's new place. Didn't see a reason to move." Tyson shrugs a bit before heading in. "Plus, there's enough rooms for guests." He finishes as we reach the door, without unlocking it he pushes the door open.

The outside was the same, the inside was the same. Everything was the same, aside from new pictures of Tyson and Hillary with Makoto on the walls. Beyond that, it was all the same.

The house was five bedrooms, when you walked in the living room was right there with the kitchen and dining room at the back. The master bedroom was on the first floor, with its own bath. Hiro used to stay in it, but I don't think he's stuck around since Tyson and Hillary got married. The other four bedrooms were upstairs, no doubt they've been changed. Two more bathrooms sat up there, one of them had been the connector between Kai and my room at one point. We let Daichi, Tyson and Max deal with each other's mess back then where they had to share the other. Kenny didn't live with us, he stayed with his parents. Max had stayed because his dad moved back to America, and Max didn't want to leave us and he shared his room with Tyson.

"Oh, aren't you just adorable?" Hilary cooed as she caught sight of Rin. "I'm Hilary, it's so nice to meet you." She smiled, getting eye level with my daughter.

"Rin, say hello, don't be rude." Mariah huffed.

"Hello." My daughter can be a bit… Rude? Yeah, that wasn't a cordial hello, more of a 'I only said hello so you'd get out of my face.'

"Rin." Time to go into father mode, I give her a disappointed look and she gets the hint. Bless this child for not being overly ridiculous, I remember how Mariah used to be as a child. Luckily, she took a bit more after me and is a bit more reserved.

"I should have dinner ready in about an hour, why don't you all go settle in. Tyson, go show them their rooms. How rude." Hilary puffs before walking towards the kitchen. She hasn't changed either.

"Yeah, c'mon guys." Tyson sighs before turning to us, showing us up the stairs. The one that creaks still does and I smile. "For nostalgia purposes, here's your room Ray." Tyson opens my old room door, it doesn't look like it's changed either.

Sure, I took everything I owned with me when I left. But the furniture that was there is still in place, a single bed in the left corner of the room, a desk and chair facing the window with the dresser against the all that boarders the bathroom.

"Rin can take the room through the bathroom, so that way she's close by." Tyson suggests, and my heart drops a bit but I nod in approval anyways.

Once we got settled into our rooms, our things stuffed in the dressers that matched in their respective drawers Mariah and Rin bounced down the stairs in search of Makoto. Setting on the edge of the bed I sigh again, this was starting to become too much.

I was happy to be here, don't get me wrong. Like I had said before, it just wasn't the same, no matter how much nothing seemed to have changed. It would never be the same, that's exactly what I told myself ten years ago to; and no truer words had ever been spoken.

Heading to the bathroom to do what needed to be done, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I'm not narcistic, but I like what I saw. Tall and proud of who I was, I was able to smile back at myself. My hair is still long and wrapped in a wrap, for today I wore a blue one. Simple white shirt and black pants that cuffed around my ankles, guess I never really changed that much either.

I figured that while I was in there, I'd unpack our toiletries. Taking the smaller bag out of Mariah's bag I set it on the counter, pulling out our odds and ends of shampoos and tooth brushes. Setting some of our stuff in the medicine cabinet to my right when something catches my eye. I reach in and pull out the small glass bottle, I recognize it. It's Kai's cologne, still here after all these years. I chuckle a bit holding in my hand, I can't believe I didn't see it when I left.

Don't judge, but I uncapped it and took a sniff. Yup, that was his scent all right. Capping it back up I set it where I found it, no sense in doing anything else with it. Though, I do wonder why it's still here. Surely Hilary would have thrown it out at some point? Maybe, but I'm kind of glad she didn't.

Taking one last look at myself I head back out of the bathroom, time to mingle with the others I suppose. Even if my heart is breaking at the seams; yes, it's corny shut up.

Tyson doesn't look all that different, his bangs are a bit more tamed and swiped to one side of his face with the back pulled into his normal pony tail down to his shoulder blades. Hilary has rather, filled out? She got a bit taller, just below Tyson's chin now. Her brown hair is down to her waist, just hanging loosely around her frame. Max, the seven-foot giant that he is towers all over us. Seriously, how did that happen? His blonde hair is all over his head, the longer pieces hanging around the nape of his neck. I haven't seen Daichi or Kenny yet, when I do I'll give you an update on how they look. Makoto, Tyson's son, is the spitting image of what he looked like from the pictures I've seen. He even sports the same baseball cap Tyson used to wear, that thing is so old I'm surprised it's not badly faded.

Mariah looks the same as she always has, she may have grown an inch or so over the years, while I know I stand at a good 5'9". Tyson is about 6'2" So yes, he's taller than me now too; damn. Rin looks like Mariah, a lot. Pink hair, bright yellow eyes while mine are gold. She has my complexion though, tan up and down. She's rather cute either way.

She wasn't planned, by no means. Remember how I said Mariah was the rebound? Yeah, stupid me forgot to wrap it up. So, when she told me she was pregnant I did the honorable thing and married her. What can I say, I'm a saint, I know. I don't think I would have changed it though, I rather enjoy being a father.

"Need any help?" I offer Hilary as she's hovering over the stove, it used to be mine. The whole kitchen was dubbed my domain, and for some reason I was a bit peeved she was in there now.

"No, No. You go sit, I have this taken care of. You're our guests." She shoos me away with a wooden spoon, and I don't feel like getting whacked with it so I comply.

I find myself on the couch in the living room, there is another identical one to the left of it where Max is sitting. Mariah is sitting with me while the kids had gone outside to play, I can barely hear them even with my neko-jin blood, but I know they're getting along. Tyson is across from me in an overstuffed armchair, Kai's chair. He's busy flipping through channels on the tv, at least they upgraded to a bigger one since last time.

"You got a kid Maxie?" I ask, I didn't see a ring but that doesn't mean anything these days.

"Nah, never found the right one." He answers, a slight chuckle in his words.

"Sorry to hear that." I offer.

"Nah, don't be. I like my freedom." Max chuckles again.

"Are Daichi and Kenny coming?" I turn to Tyson, he would know.

"Not tonight, they'll be over tomorrow." He answers and groans as he's realized there's nothing to watch.

"What have they been up to?" The only one I, barely, stayed in contact with was Tyson.

"Daichi's the new DJ for the tournaments, Kenny works for the BBA development team." He answers, still dead set on finding something to watch.

"How about you guys?" I look from Tyson to Max.

"Tyson trains the new kids at the BBA, while I took over my dad's shop." Max answers, and sighing as he watched Tyson grumble again. "Dude, there's nothing on."

"I know…" Tyson turns the T.V off now, resting further into the arm chair. I can't be too mad, it is his house after all, but I don't like him sitting there.

"How's Hiro?" I manage.

"He's off with my dad and Brooklyn in Egypt excavating." He shrugs as if he doesn't really care.

"Brooklyn?" I raise an eyebrow. I didn't really care for the guy, always acting so superior than the rest of us. Kind off putting with that unnatural smile, not to mention he almost killed Kai and us all. He's got some serious mental problems, that's for sure.

"Yeah, him and my bro hooked up a while back." Tyson says it like it's no big deal, but to me it is. I've been hiding in the closet for so long I've made friends with the moths and have names for them.

"No way." I know my mouth just hit the floor, and everyone's giving me questioning looks.

Tyson shrugs like it's really no big deal, but I feel a bit ecstatic now. I'm not the only gay guy we know, I don't feel so alone now. I close my mouth and a smile crosses my lips, they give me another questioning look.

"I'm happy for him." I'm not lying, I really am. He was able to be himself, while I've been living a lie.

I felt Mariah stiffen next to me so I looked down, she had a slight scowl on her face and I cocked an eyebrow at her. What was with the sudden change of mood?

"It's a bit disgusting, don't you think?" She whispered low enough so only I would hear, which I was glad for. We were in Tyson's house, and I stiffed against her words. I wasn't expecting that, but then again, we come from a very secluded village. Part of me wanted to laugh in her face and come busting right out of the closet in glitter and rainbows, but I simply shook my head at her.

"What, you don't think so?" She hissed, still in too low of a whisper for our human friends to hear.

"If he's happy, who are we to judge?" I whisper back, shaking my head still.

"It's unnatural." She offered, crossing her arms across her chest. "They won't ever have kids."

"Max doesn't have kids." I retorted, I was really on the verge of yelling but for the sake of my friends I kept my voice low.

"Whatever." She huffed and stood, I guess that was the end of that then. I didn't bother stopping her as she stormed out of the house to the back yard.

"What was that about?" Max, you never miss a beat, do you?

"Nothing." I shake my head. "Must be tired from the flight." I offer, hoping it's a good enough excuse.

"Dinner's ready!" Hilary calls from the kitchen, my kitchen…

We stand, Tyson going out and sticking his head through the back door to call the others in for dinner. We sit at a new table, it's not as big as the old one and so we're pretty cramped around it. Though dinner was nice and comfortable, Rin and Makoto were getting a long like old friends. I must say, Hilary sure learned how to cook; I'm still better at it though.

After diner we said goodbye to Max, and parted for our rooms. Tucking Rin in her bed, Kai's bed. Heading back to our room, Mariah took a shower while I sat on my old bed. It was still as comfortable as I remembered it. It'll be kind of hard to fit us both on this twin mattress, maybe I'll take the floor. I don't really feel up to being beside her right now anyways, not after her small-minded words from earlier.

"Ray, why are you on the floor?" She asks as she comes out of the bathroom.

"Not enough room on the bed." I manage, resting on my stomach in my make shit bed.

"Oh, you're such a wonderful husband." She coos and places a kiss on the top of my head, slipping down into the sheets of the bed.

My stomach gets tight and I roll over on my side, we have a while before the tournament. Tyson and Max said we'd all go hang out tomorrow with Daichi and Kenny, I can't wait to see them. I've missed them. But, it still isn't the same. I let out a sigh before drifting off to sleep, hopefully my back doesn't hate me in the morning, this floor is hard.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note:**

 **Just wanted to give a shout out to Linvn89! I swear I love you, thank you so much for taking such an interest in my stories it means the world to me. I hope I don't disappoint you with this one. Or anyone else who may be reading this.**

 **Hope you enjoy this as much I did writing it.**

* * *

Yup, my back hates me. My whole-body freaking hates me, I can't take two steps without something popping. That floor was extremely hard, and now I have to pay for it. Nor does it help we've been walking around the park for about two hours now, the wives in idle chatter behind the kids running off in front of them. Tyson and Max laughing and joking, Kenny had yet to show up and Daichi was running with the kids. Me? I'm all the way in the back of our little entourage. Minding my step and rubbing my back with one hand while rolling my shoulders, I'm never sleeping on a floor ever again.

Somehow, we've made a complete circle, again, in this park. They changed it up a bit, there's a select spot for beybattles and a bigger jungle gym for the kids. They cleared some of the trees so now we have a better view of the ocean, it's nice enough I suppose. Too bad I'm in so much pain, I don't really care. Oh look, the wives are sitting, that means we meek men get to sit too; lucky us.

The two women take a seat on a bench facing the jungle gym while Daichi takes the kids to the slide. Tyson and Max are standing off to the side, still engrossed in their talking. I have no idea about what, I wasn't paying attention. I find myself a seat on the picnic table, planting my rear right on the top of the table portion. It feels good to sit, I roll my shoulders a bit and hear a terrible pop; I hate floors.

Everything seemed to be going good, kids were playing, wives were getting along. Nostalgia was happening a bit to the left of me, the sun was bright but not hot. It was peaceful, until we hear a loud shrill call our way. In unison all our heads snap towards the call, a tall lanky man with big round glasses on his face is running as fast as he can towards us; Kenny.

"Hey, bout time you showed up." Tyson scoffs half-heartedly.

"I'm sorry, a few things came up. But you'll never believe what I just found out." Kenny's breathless, holding onto Tyson's shoulder for support.

He doesn't look all that different, he's taller but is shorter than Tyson and myself; yes! He's in an outfit that screams uniform, his hair combed back and his glasses are actually on his face, behind them are bright green eyes; who would have thunk it?

By now everyone has gotten up, including me, to gather around the other three. It looks like he's getting ready to tell us, a few more pants and he's regained himself and letting go of Tyson's shoulder.

"So, Kenny. What's up?" Tyson blinks a few times at him, curiosity reflecting in his brown eyes.

"You won't believe it, but Kai… Kai's son is entering the tournament." Kenny goes back to being breathless, and I follow suit. Somehow, just all of a sudden, my breath is nowhere to be found and I take a step back.

"Are you sure?" Max asks, yes please Kenny don't start lying to me now.

"How many other people do you know with the name Hiwatari?" Kenny asks, a bit peeved by the question.

"A lot of people can share the name. We can't be sure it's really his son." Max offers, stop it Max I don't need this kind of negativity in my life.

"I have a photo of the boy." Just now I realized he's been carrying a folder in his arm. I step closer, I have got to see this.

"Wow… Yeah… Can't deny it." Max chuckles, taking the picture from the folder. "He screams Kai." Max laughs passing it to Tyson, I'm dancing on the balls of my feet.

"You're right, wow. Look at that glare." Tyson soon joins Max's laugh, but I don't find it funny.

For some unknown reason, the picture ends in my hands last; bout damn time. I study it, it's a simple picture. The boy's facing the camera, even though he looks like he wants to be elsewhere. Slate hair in the front and dark blue in the back, red eyes, blue face paint? All check. He's what I'd imagine Kai too have looked like when he was younger, just a tad slimmer than Kai would have been; maybe. I wouldn't know, I've never seen a picture of him as a kid.

"Do you know if they're here yet?" Hilary pipes up, trying to hide her excitement. We all knew she had a thing for Kai, but when he showed zero interest she clung to Tyson. Oh honey, I know your pain.

"Not yet, as far as I know. Dickenson was trying to keep it all hush hush from us." Kenny explains, and now I feel a bit betrayed. Dickenson knew when I had called him, he must have, and here I thought I was the closest one to the old oaf.

"Maybe we should go to the BBA and check it out, maybe they're there." I don't know why I said that, but now everyone's looking at me.

"Good idea Ray." Tyson, thank you.

Before we know it, we're climbing into Hilary's mini-van, Tyson's car was just not going to hold this many people. Kenny and Daichi ended up taking Kenny's car, so it's not too crowded. Mariah sits in the back with the kids, Max and I taking the two captain chairs in the center and Tyson and Hilary are in the front. Even with the space of the mini-van, I laugh a bit at Max's expense. His knees are drawn up into what looks like to be a really uncomfortable position; that's what you get you over grown giant.

I don't know who was more excited now, it was almost on the verge of becoming a competition between Tyson, Hilary, and myself. The second we started driving off Tyson was going a mile a minute about wanting to see Kai, and his son, of course. He threw in a few jabs about Kai's man-hood and being able to produce a son, which kind of made me mad since I was the one with a daughter and all; what an asshole. It's the 21st century, shouldn't we just be glad we have kids?

Hilary is applying on more makeup, I guess she forgot that lil ring on her finger for a minute. She's trying to talk over Tyson, going over how it'll be really cool if they could convince Kai to stay in the house with us all and how he could have his old room. I liked the idea, but that meant I'd be sleeping on the floor for the whole trip. That idea, I didn't like one bit.

Me? I didn't voice my opinions, I couldn't. I was trying to picture what he might look like, his kid wore the same blue face paint, even if it was just one triangle on each cheek. How would he take to seeing us all again? After just leaving like he did, would he feel guilty? I doubt it, he hardly ever felt that way. Only once did he ever apologize to us, and that's all we could have ever expected of him.

Finally, we reach the BBA, my nerves are beginning to fry and my legs are getting weak. This is it, c'mon Raymond Kon get yourself together. Without faltering too much for the others to notice I get out my side of the van, helping Rin and Mariah out. Makoto just jumps head first out, but lands on his feet. I should applaud him, but I really don't care, I do it all the time.

We head in the employee entrance, much like the same formation we were walking in the park in. This time though, Kenny is ahead of us all with Daichi behind him. They're the ones who work here, so they'd know where to go. Kenny uses his ID tag to open a few doors, leading us to the elevator where he uses the ID again.

I haven't paid much attention to the building, but it has changed a bit. I guess they kept some of the layouts from when it became BEGA for a few months, but beyond that this place looks completely foreign to me; I'm glad I'm not alone.

The elevator dings, and we all step out into an office space. The group fans out a bit, the wives taking the kids over to a set of couches by the windows. Max and Tyson go to the table in the center of the room, while Kenny starts for a door ahead of us. Daichi follows Tyson and Max, sitting on the top of the table becoming engrossed in their conversation.

Me? I stay where I am. I can't move, the anticipation is eating me alive. Then a thought crosses my mind, sure he probably won't be too all pleased to see us all, but he'll soon get over it, he did come here after all. But, what about me? Would he even be able to look at me, after what I did? Now a fear I never knew I had settles in my stomach, I kissed him and without warning. I showed him how I felt, he seemed to reciprocate, a bit. That doesn't mean anything though, he could have been caught in the moment, so now what? Would he be mad, disgusted to see me? I mean, we both have families now, so maybe he never thought about it after he left; one can hope.

Kenny comes back from the door across the room, Dickenson following behind him with a joyful look on his face. He's really aging, I feel sorry for him. I'm gonna miss him when he hits the bucket, and the sinister side of me laughs because I'm still sore he didn't tell me that Kai's son was going to be in the tournament.

"So, what news can you give us Mr. D?" Tyson never misses a beat, and I'm glad; I'm ready to burst with excitement, obviously I've forgotten about my own lil ring on my finger.

"I'm sorry everyone, but you just missed them." If I were a balloon I would have made the noise one does when it deflates, because that's all I did. I deflated so badly, I'm surprised it didn't make a sound.

"Can you tell us where they are?" Hilary pipes up, bless you woman.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. Company policy, but I did tell him you were all at the old house."

"Did he say if he was going there?" Tyson pipes up, I can see the glimmer of hope in his eyes; and I can feel my own in the pit of my stomach.

"No, not that I can recall. Here, I'll give you his number. Just don't go pestering him too much right now, you know how he is." Dickenson said with a slight chuckle, but I caught something else in his tone. Was that concern?

"Give it to Ray, Kai probably won't hang up on him as fast as he would any of us." I'm sorry Max, don't I get a say in this?!

Before I know it, a cell phone is shoved in my hand; already ringing?! I swear I fumbled with it in my hands about five times before putting it to my ear, there was no ringing, which means he picked it up while I fumbled with it. Breathe, that's it in and out, now say something.

"Hey." My voice cracked; shit!

"Hello." That voice is a little too high pitched to be Kai's.

"Hi." Way to go, just keep talking in circles Raymond.

"Who is this?" Now that high pitch has turned deathly cold, but it's still a child's voice.

"My names Ray Kon, I was hoping to talk to a Kai Hiwatari. Is he there by any chance?" All these eyes are trying to burn holes in me, when did they get so close to me? I take a step back from them, they're too close and I can't breathe as it is.

"He's here, he's driving. Say hi, it's on speaker." He said after I heard a button being pushed, meaning he just now put it on speaker; shit!

"Hey Kai, it's Ray." I finally sounded like my normal self, thank god.

"Ray?" I swear I could feel his eye brow arch with that question.

"Yeah, you know. Ray Kon, world champion and all that jazz."

"I know who you are, idiot. Why are you calling me, how'd you get my number?" He does not, I repeat NOT sound happy.

"Well, we got word you were in Japan with your son for the tournament. We came to the BBA to see if we could see you, but Dickenson said you had left and gave me your number." I swear I could see Dickenson sweat when I mentioned his name, lucky for me I decided not to put my phone on speaker.

"That old fool." Kai hissed.

"Well, it wasn't like we weren't going to see each other eventually, all our kids are in the tournament." I try to sound a cheery as I can; he's mad.

"So, what do you want?" He sighs, guess my charm got to him; I wish.

"Just wanted to see if you'd be up to stopping by the old place, it's Tysons house now and we're all staying there."

"Dad, can we?" Bless you sweet child, I know you not but I will make it a point to.

The line goes quiet for a minute, I can hear the car's engine which means he's still driving. Then a sigh escapes his lips, he must have nodded his head because he didn't say anything and his son is yelling with joy.

"You remember how to get there?" I ask, taking it that he's not going to tell me he is coming; shit he's coming!

"Yeah?" He sounds almost hurt, at least as much as he can with my stupid question. So, his words are laced with sarcasm, and a light chuckle escapes him.

"Alright, we'll see you there then. We're leaving the BBA now." I offer, I swear my grin is so big both of my fangs are hanging over my lower lip.

There's a click on the end, and I turn to the others, after having backed away in a corner during the conversation. I nod to them and all at once everyone is jumping with joy, save for one; Mariah. It's no surprise my wife doesn't like Kai, the thought, sight, or idea of him. Since day one she has taunted and threatened him, of course him stealing her bit beast and everyone else's didn't help; This is going to be fun.

I swear Tyson ran about three stop signs on the drive back to the house, and yet I was still annoyed with how slow we were going. The two in front were talking so excitedly, Max was even in on the conversation. I sat starring out the window, my heart racing in my chest just about as fast as this van was going; which was pretty fast all in all. The only one not excited, Mariah. I could feel her scowl behind me, like her eyes were set on starring at the back of my head through the whole trip.

We finally, FINALLY, pull into the driveway. There's a nice black Mercedes parked out on the side of the street, must be his rental which means he's loaded with cash; like always. The doors of the van swing open so fast I'm surprised they didn't break off their hinges, everyone is jumping out with excitement, even I did. I can't help it, till I finally realize something. He's here! SHIT!

Down in the street the Mercedes doors open, out pops a little head of slate colored bangs with the face of an angel. He looks so much like Kai it's amazing, he's not too tall or too short for his age, which I'm guessing is about eight. He's slim, much like Kai used to be at one point. His face paint is plastered right there for all the world to see, and it fits him quiet well on those pale cheeks of his. Hilary swoons the seconds she sees him, I think even Mariah did upon seeing the little boy.

My heart stops as a taller form steps out of the driver's door, his back turned to us as he steps out. Dark blue hair tied back in a tight pony tail at the base of his head, the slate strands are slicked back a bit with a few framing his face. He turns and I can't breathe again, his complexion is the same as it always had been and his eyes are scanning everyone in one quick movement. I see him heave in a sigh before he steps around the car, shrugging his dark maroon colored blazer around his shoulder.

With a hand to his child's back he starts our way, I hear Hilary swoon again as they get closer and I force myself not to. He stops a good few feet from the group that's formed at the back of the van, all eyes set on him and his child. Tyson is the first to make a move; bless him.

"Hey man, it's awesome to see you." He holds out a hand, I've seen this scene one to many times to know where it's going. It's almost painful to watch. He took his hand?! Yes, Kai reached out and actually shook Tyson's hand.

"You too." He even spoke back?! I may just faint…

"Well come on in, we don't need to stand out here all day." Hilary steps up, pulling Tyson away from Kai and his son, leading us to the front door.

I follow the crowd inside and I can feel Kai's eyes trying to burn a hole in my head, which is understandable it's my fault he's here. Once inside everyone seems to fan out again, Max taking his usual spot on the couch while Hilary muses about making lunch. Mariah latches onto my arm and pulls me to the couch we had occupied last night, forcing Rin to sit with us even though I can tell she wants to talk to the new kid. Tyson had stayed by the door with Kai still slightly in the door way, his son standing just as tall and proud as his father.

"Pretty weird seeing the old place again, huh?" He says with a wide grin, Makoto is trapped under his hand and I've noticed that he's locked in a starring contest with Kai's son. Who knew rivalries were hereditary, good thing Lee doesn't have a child.

"Looks the same." Kai glances a bit, but his voice is indifferent.

"Well come on in, no reason to stand there all day." Tyson ushers them through the door further, closing the door behind them. "So, where are you staying?" He begins and falters before taking a seat in the chair for a second, and I'm taken back a bit as he offers the chair to Kai. Even more so when Kai actually sits in it, he looks better there than Tyson does anyways.

"I have a hotel." He answers. His son sitting down on the floor by his feet, even though his eyes still have yet to leave Makoto's.

"Could stay here." Hilary pipes up from the kitchen, she has some good hearing.

"Thank you, but no." He simply replies.

Tyson ends up taking a seat on the couch with Max, Makoto sitting between them, the starring match still going on between them that I don't think either father has caught onto yet.

"What's your name?" I don't like the tension that's already beginning to form around us, all eyes have been on Kai and his son while Kai's eyes have been everywhere but back at us.

"I'm Goh." He responds to my question, but still not looking at me.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ray and this is Rin and Mariah." I point to them respectfully, and he glances our way for a moment. He slightly nods and turns back to Makoto, red eyes meeting brown in another death match.

"Goh." Kai threatens, finally realizing what his son is doing.

"Sorry." Goh mutters, but the look on his face shows he doesn't mean it.

"This is Makoto, I'm Tyson and Hilary's in the kitchen." Tyson chuckles, he must have just now realized what the two kids were doing now.

"I'm Max." Our big friendly giant pipes up, legs outstretched across the floor.

"Daichi." He nods to the boy, sitting on the armrest next to Max.

Kenny had stayed back at the BBA, probably to apologize to Mr. Dickinson about squealing on Kai. I don't envy him, when that man gets angry, he gets just about as scary as Kai can. Speaking of who is now having his own starring contest with my wife; when did that happen?

"You kids should go play out back, lunch will be ready in a bit." Hilary calls from the kitchen.

Rin and Makoto bounce right up, Goh turns and gives a look to his father as if asking permission. Kai simply nods to him, his eyes not leaving Mariah's. All three kids bounce out of the living to the backyard, hopefully Hilary just didn't send my daughter out there to her death.

I feel really out of place right now so I stand, whether she likes it or not I'm going to help her. I can't stand being in between the new death match that's spawned between the love of my life and my wife. I pause slightly in the door way of the kitchen, an all too familiar presence has landed on the back of my head which I know is Kai staring at me again.

"Ray, I told you. You're our guest." Hilary persists but it's too late, when she had left the stove I jumped right in her spot and I swear I'm not moving.

"Okay, fine. Have it your way." She sighs, signaling her defeat. I want to laugh in her face, but I hold it back and just give her my best innocent smile.

Eventually the T.V is turned on, and I can hear cordial conversation spike up behind me in the living room. Kai is actually talking back, answering the questions he thinks aren't too personal. I like this sound, I've missed it. It feels like how it used to be now, of course we're missing Kenny at the moment but he was always so wrapped into his computer he never spoke. A peaceful look must have appeared on my face, as Hilary has now decided to enter my personal space.

"I know that look." She gives me her best look over, as if she'll get her answer from doing so. "I'm sorry Ray, if I knew you were so keen on cooking I would have let you." Yup, she missed it by a long shot.

"It's alright, I really do enjoy cooking and it's just a bit nostalgic to do it here again." I smile to her.

By now she has stepped back, giving me free reign over my kitchen. I go about to all the familiar places to pick out plates and such, getting a few other odds and ends for the lunch we're having. She was just going to do some grilled cheese, so I decided to make the sandwiches a bit better with adding some fries to the mix and hamburger meat to put on between the sandwich. Without thinking I turned on the coffee maker, it did its thing and once again without thinking I took a cup of it and held it out for Kai; damn nostalgia and it getting the better of me!

For a minute he just looks up at me and then takes the mug, with a quiet nod of the head and nostalgia rearing its ugly head back at me. I give him a smile, making sure one of my fangs slip out over my lip. As I head back to the kitchen I can now feel a different presence trying to burn a hole in my head; Mariah.

Lunch was great, everyone enjoyed the food and I couldn't have been beaming brighter from all their compliments, I'm sure I shone more brightly than the sun. Even Goh had given me a compliment, turns out he's a bit more social than his father is. Who even though quietly, gave me his own approval of the food.

"So, I was thinking. That with the tournament coming up in a week, we should go shopping tomorrow. Get the kids some new clothes." Hilary pipes in.

"It's a Beyblading tournament, not the first day of school." Tyson whines.

"It'll just be me and Mariah with the kids, you guys don't have to go." Hilary speaks up, then turns her attention to Kai. "Would it be alright if we took Goh with us?"

By now we were back in the living room, the kids went to Makoto's room to play on his Xbox or something. Remember, I live in a small village? Yeah, I don't know what that thing is, even living here with the others I never could discern the difference between all the gaming consoles Tyson had.

"You can ask him." Kai shrugs, which I think means he figures there's no use in arguing with Hilary about it.

"Where's his mother?" Hilary asks, almost in a hush whisper incase Goh were to come in and the subject was a sore one.

"Back in Russia." Kai answers, taking a sip of his newly filled mug of coffee provided by mwah.

"Is she… You know… Dead?" Hilary never knew when to stop while she was ahead of herself, even as a teenager she pried way too much.

"No." Kai answers again with a sigh, but the look that crossed his face kind of told me he wished she was. I know I was the only one to see it. Having been his roommate and travel buddy gave me a lot more time than the others to recognize every muscle in his face. He may not have been an open book to the others, but to me he was.

"Well that's a relief." Hilary sighs with a breath of air, relaxing into the back of the couch. "Well why don't you two stay the night here, it'll make it easier for us to get him with us in the morning." Nope, she never learned how to quit.

Kai seems to ponder over it moment, and then sighs. I swear we're all on the edge of our seats now waiting for his answer, inching every few seconds in anticipation.

"Fine." He manages, and finishes his cup of coffee.

The air loses its tension from our waiting, and everyone has a smile on their faces now, except you know who. I think she might have just growled in her throat, but nobody but me heard it of course.

"Want some more?" I stand, offering to take the mug. I can't stand the tension beside her.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks." He sets the cup down by the chair, and for once I can see him relax a bit into the back of the chair. He looks good there, like he always did. I'm kind of proud of Tyson for giving it up to him, I should thank him later.

To our surprise Goh was actually excited to be going out with the girls and the other two kids, Rin seemed to brighten up when he said he'd go; who knew attractions were hereditary? By the time night came Max and Daichi had left, they had their own homes to go to. Mariah gave Rin a bath, making sure to keep the other side of the door locked. I was busy making my bed on the floor, sigh, there was no way I'd let my daughter sleep on this floor. So being the good father I am, I'm putting my already sore body through more torment. Goh was actually given Daichi's spare room, which left Kai in his old one.

"Bathroom's all yours Ray." Mariah called as she brought Rin out, helping dry her off and slip into her pj's.

She didn't have to tell me twice, I hadn't bathed since I left China. Granite we've only been here two days, but I knew my hair needed to be washed. Grabbing my towel, I stepped in the bathroom. Locking the door behind me to my side of the room, I didn't need her trying to sneak in and commence her own kind of plan. It's been a while, and I'd like it to stay that way, especially with Kai on the other side of the wall.

Just as I was getting my tooth paste from the medicine cabinet, his cologne bottle sat there. I had completely forgotten about it, so snatching it up I gently tapped on his side of the door. I didn't want to be rude and just barge in, he might have been indecent; even though I would not have minded one bit.

There were a few sounds of shuffling on the other side of the door till it opened, he stepped back letting me in and closed the door behind me. So far, if he was mad or disgusted with me, he hadn't shown it. It could have been that he forgot about it, which would be even better for me.

"Look what I found on my first day here." I chuckle a bit holding up the bottle of light blue liquid, dropping it into his open hand.

For a second he looks at it and a small smile crosses his features, then our eyes meet and the smile fades; shit!

"Thanks." He turns around and carelessly drops it in his open suit case by the end of his bed.

"I'm going to take a shower, but I'll leave you some hot water." I shifted where I stood a bit, he sits on the edge of his bed and I will nostalgia not to smack me in the face again.

"Thanks." His gaze meets mine and I will myself not to melt.

"It… It's good to see you again." Great, good job Raymond. Ten points, no really.

"You too." He smiles again at me, yup I just melted.

"Got a good kid, looks just like you." I want to leave, but I don't. I know he's probably tired from traveling, he needs sleep and I need a shower.

"Thankfully." He snorts in a suppressed chuckle, and it only pressed my suspicions further. He doesn't love the mother of his child, I don't say wife because I don't see a wedding ring.

"Alright, well I should go now." I point behind me but don't move, please stop me I'm begging you Kai.

"Kay." He watches me falter a bit, damn you Kai. "Hey." Just as I reached out for the door handle his voice stops me and I whirl around so fast my hair wrap smacks me in the back of my legs.

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk." I don't like the look in his eyes, for the first time I can't read his expression and it scares me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note:**

 **Figured I'd drop by and give you some warnings for this chapter.**

 **Mentions of blood, gore, dismembering, death, fowl language, and lemon.**

* * *

I should not be here, I should not be here, I repeat. I SHOULD NOT BE HERE!

It's already too late for all that though, way too god damn late. Great job Kai Hiwatari, you fucked it all up! You entered into a ten-year marriage contract to protect them, and now you're putting them all at risk. Even more so since we didn't get to Voltaire before I left, which is fucking perfect too!

I know I'm rambling, I make no sense right now. You're right, I can't make sense of any of this. Fate must be laughing at me so hard right now, it's holding its stomach because it can't breathe through the laughing fit it's having. Well fuck you to fate, I'd flick you off if I could. Maybe kick you square in the balls as you've done to me, see how you like it.

First off, the only good things that's happened out of this miserable month is my divorce was finalized; thank god! She cried and cried and I laughed and laughed. Freedom my name is Kai Hiwatari! I feel bad for the strain it's put on Goh, I really do. I love that kid to pieces, but right now I kind of hate him. He's the reason I'm here, back in Japan surrounded by my old teammates. I wonder why I ever introduced Beyblading to him, a whole lot of good it's ever done this family.

The divorce went pretty smooth as a whole, she took everything and I don't care. I'm not surprised, I kind of wanted her to take it all. So, I ended up bunking down with Tala and Bryan since I have no real wealth. It all belonged to Voltaire, giving me a bit of an 'allowance' for my obedience. Every cent I made from working under him at his enterprise, he took and placed back in his pocket. Lucky for me my ex did have money of her own, which is now mine tucked safely away in a foreign account. Thanks to the brains that is Tala.

We agreed on joint custody and she allowed me to take Goh first for the summer, right when the new tournament sparked up. Him being an avid blader begged me until I couldn't say no, he deserves a normal childhood. Before I knew it, we were on a plane to Japan. Him bouncing around as much as he could. He may look like me, but his personality is far from it. Sure, he has my glare and my smirk and smugness when it's warranted, but he also has a kind heart and is very sociable with the kids his age; lucky him.

Second, after I moved in with thing 1 and thing 2 we started putting Voltaire's death plan in action. Our goal was to get both Boris and Voltaire at the same time, but since Boris came back from the fall of BEGA he never stuck around Voltaire for long. So, we got to Boris first. We wanted Voltaire first, but knowing Boris would be able to slip out of the country without us noticing, he went down first.

I won't lie, it was quite satisfying to do and watch. First there was me, gun to his head but I only held it there. Tala came next by beating the old bastard into a bloody pulp for all the shit he put him through, sure the enhancement Boris did to Tala has made him smart, too smart for anyone's good. Tala still didn't appreciate it, and he let Boris know with each blow he landed on the old sod. Bryan was next, knives and other torture devices abound and so. Much. Blood. Glad I'm not weak in the knees by the sight of it.

First, we cut out his tongue. It never served him any real purpose anyways, always clucking and barking out useless orders. Bryan ended up feeding it to his dog, now that kind of made me weak in the knees. Then his fingers, one by one they were cut off. The satisfaction I got from that was better than any high I've ever had, and I can tell Tala and Bryan felt the same. Lucky for me Bryan didn't feed the dog the severed appendages. Toes, one leg after the other and then his arms, it was great.

We debated for a bit while he squirmed like a worm on the floor of his house, unsure if we should take his eyes as well. Eventually we settled on leaving them, just for the dramatical purpose of him watching me blow his brains out. Handing the smoking gun to Tala he shot, another hole piercing through that useless brain of his. Bryan got the gun next and unloaded the rest of the damn thing into him, like I said. So. Much. Blood. Taking the bits and pieces of the now very much deceased Boris, we threw parts into the icy depths of some lakes and ponds, taking the larger portion of his body and burying it in the middle of god knows where.

The partying that ensued after that was by far the best, we had done it. We took care of one less evil in the world and we didn't feel any less human than doing so. It was almost like a right of ours to do it, we needed it. There were no loose ends, nothing to tie us to the murder. Not like anyone would be looking for him anyways, except Voltaire.

Even with their distant 'relationship', Voltaire began to worry from not having heard from Boris and fled before we got to him. I know he knows, and with the divorce being finalized just right after and me taking Goh I had to send Tala and Bryan out to find him. It's been a good month now and I haven't heard from them, which is not helping my nerves in the slightest.

I know I shouldn't have come to Japan, it would only make Voltaire come and knowing him being in such a fight or flight state he'd no doubt come here. Which only fails the entire purpose of ever getting married in the first place, it was to save these guys from his wrath. If I hadn't stepped up to him and accepted his contract, they'd all be dead now. Only because he found out, much too my dismay because I was still trying to figure it out, that I fell in love with one Ray Kon.

So, seeing that ring on his finger has only irked me more than words can express. I hate seeing it, but I can't fully blame him. He had no idea, I had no idea how much I loved him back then. I don't know when it started, it just had. Every time he was away I didn't feel the same, when he was near I still wasn't the same but it wasn't a bad feeling. It was like he HAD to be by me, without him I was nothing but a shell of my old self. As much as I tried, I never wanted to be my old self. I'd be damned if I was, but that doesn't fully matter now since he's clearly married.

Seeing him now, I can take this two ways. Leave him be, pray Voltaire never comes here and Tala and Bryan can off the fucking bastard before he can. Then let Goh do what he does best and humiliate Tyson's spawn, and go home. Or.

I can confront him about it, demand to know what that kiss meant ten years ago. Demand that he tells me his marriage was just like mine and he never wanted it, that his daughter, as cute as she is, isn't his. That they never sleep together, they just share a bed and he hasn't been touched. A bit hypocritical I know.

I can break down and spill out my heart to him and watch him accept it or deny it; deny me. If he accepts it I can demand he goes and gets a divorce and whisk him off back to Russia in hopes Tala and Bryan's done their job, if not then protect him with every fiber of my being until I can kill Voltaire. If he denies it, I'll watch him go and go help Tala and Bryan. Either way Ray reacts, Voltaire will end up a dead man anyways; guess he shouldn't have threatened my friends.

For a while it was pretty amusing watching Hilary gush over Goh, it was sweet and since she was a mother herself it only spilled out more as time went on. I was a bit surprised by the whole shopping thing, but not one to pass up the opportunity of making new friends, Goh accepted. I think he took them all by surprise by that, since he looks so much like me they must think he is me in smaller form. I wanted to laugh at their expressions, but I held it in since I was still, and still am, pretty pissed about being here.

If the nostalgia of the night couldn't have gotten any heavier than it already had, I was back in my old room. Back where it all began and ended in less than ten minutes, through the bathroom I can hear Mariah and Ray talking. That's the only thing that's different now, we all have kids and are, was in my case, married. Happily, it seems, at least for Tyson and Hilary. I still have to figure out Ray's marriage, when Mariah insisted on starring me down, I knew it made him uncomfortable.

I can only hope it peeved her off when his attention the entire night was on me, constantly giving me coffee, which I think he spiked with vodka; bless that man. Which would explain why my train of thought is all over the place tonight, he gave me at least five cups since I stepped through the door and if I know him like I do, he made sure to lace it up good, since he knows me so well. Once again, bless that man.

My head hurts my whole body hurts and is begging for sleep, but I can't. Part of me is afraid of sleep right now, so close to everyone again with my own son in harm's way now, I can't find sleep. As much as the alcohol is begging me to, I can't, so I'm starring off into space at the blank wall in front of me. Then something catches my attention, a knock on the door that leads to the bathroom.

Willing my legs to stand, never mind Ray, fuck you. I stumbled over to the door, my head pounding with a headache that's just now decided to make its self-known. Hand fumbles with the nob until I can get a grasp on it, did he use the whole damn bottle? I open it and let him in, a smile on his lips and I want to fall into them.

In the presence of another I go into 'Kai' mode, and fight the alcohol in my system to close the door without a sound. He's still smiling at me and holds his hand up with something in it, dropping it in my hand.

"Look what I found on my first day here." He chuckles at me as I just stare at it, but a small smile graces my lips as I recognize it, even through the alcohol haze in my head.

I look back up and I watch his face pale as my smile vanishes, I chuckle to myself without him seeing and go back to drop my ten-year old cologne in my suit case.

"Thanks." I didn't mean to drop the bottle like that, luckily the cap stayed on and the glass didn't shatter over my clothes.

"I'm going to take a shower, but I'll leave you some hot water." He shifts where he's standing, as if he's unsure. Can I come?

I take a seat on the edge of my bed, not able to stand as the headache is trying to knock me unconscious now.

"Thanks." I look up at him and try to bite through the pain such little movement is causing me.

"It… It's good to see you again." His stuttering around me hasn't changed, I noticed it getting pretty bad after the third world tournament.

"You too." I smile back at him, hoping that would calm him down. Even though I am pretty pissed he's tried to kill my liver.

"Got a good kid, looks just like you." He manages to say it in one go, no stuttering and I kind of miss it. He's always done this, one minute he's a stuttering idiot with me and the next he's not.

"Thankfully." I snort, fate wasn't as cruel as I've made it out to be. I would have been damned if I had a girl or a boy that resembled their mother.

"Alright, well I should go now." He points behind him at the door, and now he's stalling and I can tell.

"Kay." I like this game, I'll let him think we're done talking and as soon as he gets to the door I pull him back.

"Hey." Just as he reached out for the door handle my voice stops him. He whirls around so fast his hair wrap makes a snapping noise against his legs.

"Yeah?" He pales again, must not the look I have on my face. Good.

"We need to talk." I will myself to stand, stalking over to him and he's gone whiter than I've ever seen him before.

A smirk playing across my lips as I step up to him, he's shorter than me by maybe an inch or two. Good, I'd be damned if he was taller than me. Max is too tall for all that sugar he ate as a teenager, I'm already peeved that Tyson and Daichi are taller than me, so there was no way in hell I wanted to be shorter than Ray.

"S…Sure…" Did I mention how much I love this game? We're back to stuttering Ray and it makes me chuckle with a grin on my lips. I step back to give him some space, I know I can't control myself with alcohol in my system and I don't need his wife to come barging in here.

"First." I start, crossing my arms over my chest. "Did you have to pour the entire bottle in my coffee?" His face lights up a bit with a crooked grin.

"Sorry, just figured you could use it." He chuckles and the color is returning to his face once he realizes I'm not going to hurt him, yet.

"Second." I pause, glancing up at him with a cross look to get him stuttering again, even though this question would have done it without the look. "Why'd you kiss me?"

He just lost all color in his face and has stepped into the door with his back. His eyes are darting around the room like he doesn't know where he is, and it's quite amusing.

"W… What kiss?" Knowing that he would do that, a smirk crosses my lips and I straighten my back a bit, the headache is still there but it's not as bad now.

"I dunno, the one oh about ten years ago. Happened right there." I point back to my bed and his eyes follow my finger, I can hear him swallow the lump that must have formed in his throat.

"I… I was… I was hoping you'd have forgotten about that." He looks like a child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"You calling me stupid, Kon?" I make my voice a little more sinister, just to watch him squirm.

"No… No not at all, Kai." He waves his hands in front of him frantically.

"Then why?" I return to normal, I don't want to scare him off.

"You have to ask?" I raise my eyebrow at him, as if to indicate that wasn't the right answer.

"I'd like to know, yes."

"Then I guess you are." He chuckles and my eyebrow raises higher, definitely the wrong answer but his chuckles are too damn cute to be mad at him. "Sorry." He manages subsiding his small fit.

"Well?" My voice is hinting that I'm about close to lose my temper with him, even if I'm really not.

"I… God why is this hard?" I wish I knew kitten. "I… Kai… I… I love you." Well no shit Sherlock, I just wanted you to tell me.

"What's with the ring then?" I point to it through my arms that are still across my chest.

"You left, you never stopped me after our little exchange. You just up and left us, we thought so many different things about what could have happened to you. I got lonely, messed up and did the right thing." He shrugs his shoulders and I can tell his voice is ready to crack, he won't make eye contact with me now. I didn't want to hurt him, not like this.

"I'm sorry." I can feel my voice on the verge of cracking.

"Why did you leave us?" He finally looks at me, eyes pleading like they did ten years ago. They stab me in the chest but I can't tell him, not yet.

"I had too, wasn't anything any of you did. So please don't think that, I just had to get away for a bit."

"A bit?" He sarcastically chuckles at me, and I understand why. "Ten years is more than 'a bit'."

"Don't you think I realize that?" I didn't mean to snap, I didn't need people waking up because I can't handle my alcohol this one time. "Sorry." I try to calm my nerves now, seeing the look on his face when I yelled made me feel guiltier than I ever have.

"It's fine… Kai?" He steps closer now for some reason. "Why… Why did you ask?" He's invading my space but I don't care, I never did when it was him.

"About?" I raise an eyebrow because I like this game, sorry kitten you're too fun to play with.

"You know about what." He huffs a breath of air and I can feel it brush my skin, he's that close.

"You know, with all the alcohol you tried to poison me with, I don't know what you're asking about." Balls in your court Ray, figure out what to do with it before I get impatient.

We stand in silence starring at each other, our eyes are locked with the others and I can tell his mind is working overtime to figure it all out. God he's stunning. I see him hesitate for a second, it was small but his foot did move about an inch closer to mine. I cock an eyebrow, maybe that will give him motivation now.

"Kai…" He breathes, still trying to figure this all out as his eyes are now dancing over my face. He must be trying to find out if I'm going to run away, maybe he's afraid of taking advantage of me because I'm drunk. But I won't make the move, I won't make him break his fake vows, no matter how badly I want to and know how badly he wants me too.

A soft but calloused hand has finally made its way to cup my left cheek, it must have surprised them all to see them blank when they first saw me. He has to tilt up a bit to reach me and the seconds seem to go slower than what I wanted, until he presses his lips to mine. Thank you, about damn time Ray. Immediately I grab him and pull him closer, god I missed him. A squeak escapes his lips and I take the opportunity to press my tongue in, he gladly welcomes it allowing me full dominance. I'm sure he regrets giving me so much alcohol now, I can feel his face scrunch up a bit as I let out a breath I had been holding in for too long.

We pull apart, I don't need to drown him in my alcohol breath. His hand that was on my cheek falls to my shoulder and he's studying my face again, golden eyes filled with lust and desire are flicking one way to the next.

"I hate you." I was not expecting that to come from his mouth, not at this point in time. I can't say anything and raise my brow again; his hand hasn't left my shoulder and he hasn't pulled away far enough to make his words seem truthful.

"I hate you, I hate you." Tears are running down his cheeks now and while the one hand is on my shoulder, he's decided to make me his personal punching bag, a closed fist is hardly tapping on my chest repeatedly.

"I'm sorry." It finally clicks, I know his words aren't true. He doesn't hate me for kissing him, he doesn't hate me for anything. He hates himself.

I gently take the wrist of the hand that's tapping me in mine, pulling him closer into me till he's almost falling against me. He looks up with tear stained cheeks, a few still rolling down the corners of his eyes. I take his lips back with mine, pouring all my passion and love for him into it. He falls more into me until I can safely pull us on the bed, him laying over me as we stay entwined.

In more of heated passion clothes come off, pants begin and sweat forms on our skins. Have I mentioned how fucking good he looks? Cus hot damn! I don't think he was prepared for me, I wouldn't have been prepared for me. Eventually he relaxes and I make him mine, all the while we keep the noise level to a bare minimum even though I can tell he's a screamer. Once again, we didn't need his 'wife' to come barging in. Speak of the devil there's a knock at the bathroom door and we freeze. If she walks in, there is no explanation to the position we're in. The whole 'playing twister' won't work, since not even a stupid game like this has ever conjured up such an intricate mix of limbs and body parts, or a wall.

I can feel the air leave the room and now he's trying to pry from my grasp, I hold him down more firmly and give him a warning glare not to say anything.

"What?" I snap, and yes, I am angry this time.

"Kai, I was just wondering if you've seen Ray." I've seen plenty of him, thanks for asking.

"No." I can almost hear her huff of breath through the closed door. "He's probably out walking, if you don't mind I'd like to go back to sleep." I leave her no room to protest with the tone of my voice, she heeds my warning and I can hear the other bathroom door slam. Bitch, I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck.

"Maybe we should, ya know, hurry up?" Ray chuckles a bit from where he's pinned against the wall, my head snaps towards him and I give him the best damn grin I can muster. Wrong choice of words kitten.

"Never mind." He sighs through a strangled moan as my teeth grate across his skin, taking him back in my mouth again and that seems to have worked.

I can feel his left leg over my shoulder is straining now so I pull him off the wall, the right arm I've been holding over his head clasps around my neck as I lay him back on the bed that I've been kneeling on for the past 15 minutes. The hand I had been holding and prodding his ass with comes around his waist, my fingers bruising his tan skin. The hand he was holding my hair in a death lock is now scratching my back, his nails feel like razors and it's only exciting me more. Like I said, no game of twister would have ever conjured that up.

Lips meet again in a hungrier lock and this time he fights my tongue with his, playing for dominance and I let him win. I can feel him smirk against me, and then it contorts and he bites my lip as I'm back in him. I don't know how long it took, I wasn't counting, but it lasted longer than either of us had anticipated. Maybe he should spike all my drinks from now on, because god damn that beat the night I celebrated the death of Boris and that night I had two of them on and around me.

"I should prolly go shower now." He's trying to grab his clothes, shirt was under the bed, pants were by the bedroom door and boxers were somewhere under the sheets.

"Can I come?" I give him a smirk, laying on my side to watch him try and keep his legs from buckling under him.

"I don't think I can handle a round four." He sighs, but gives me a grin where his fang pokes over his bottom lip. Don't do that or there will be a round four.

"I should probably check on Goh anyways." I sigh pushing myself off the bed and gather my own clothes. Shirt hanging on the back of the chair, pants by the bathroom door, and boxers aren't anywhere as I don't wear the damn things.

We dress in silence, I don't know why he bothered when he's taking a shower.

"Kai?" He stops me before I can get to the door.

"Yeah?" I turn a bit to meet his gaze.

"I TOLD YOU I JUST WANTED TO GET FRESH AIR, WHY THE HELL DO YOU KEEP INSITING TO HOUND ME WITH YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS!" His voice shakes the entire house, and my eyes go wide at this sudden outburst.

In a flash the bathroom door is swung open and in comes Mariah, looking ready to kill anyone who stands in her way. He eyes dance from Ray to me and back, then she snarls at me and clings to Ray's arm. His eyes are still locked onto mine and I see the faintest smirk cross his lips. Well damn Ray, who knew you were this sly?

"Sorry for being a bit concerned, it is three in the morning you know. Also look at you, looks like you got mugged on your way back." I shout back, I had to make up something for those bruises on his skin somehow.

"I can take care of myself, thank you. Now if you excuse me I'm going to shower." He pulls himself out of Mariah's protective grip and the bathroom door slams behind them.

I can't help but smirk at the closed door before slipping down the hall, I don't hear anyone waking from his sudden outburst, which I'm thankful for. I get in the room that Goh's staying in, like always he's tossing in his sleep and mumbling some Russian curses under his breath. Don't look at me, I don't know where he got it from.

"Hey. Hey, it's alright." I sit on the edge of the bed, running my fingers through his bangs gently.

His body relaxes under my touch, hearing my voice always calms him. Ever since he was three he's had night terrors, there's nothing I can do for him even though I desperately want to. I'm reduced to sitting beside him till it stops, he doesn't wake up while having one and it's impossible to try. He gave me a black eye once for trying to wake him, lesson learned. Once he's back into a soundless sleep I leave him, cracking the door a bit in case he needs to come see me.

Back in my room I can hear the shower, I ponder over whether or not to go in and then throw all caution to the wind and do just that. I can almost hear that bell they ring for wrestling matches going off. Round four, Kai vs Ray is underway.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Just wanted to say thanks to everyone whose reading. Big shout out to my best buds Linvin89 and LowerLevelMisfit for taking such a liking to my stories. It means a lot to me.**

 **Here's Chapter 5, it's a bit more on the melodramatic side but I hope you all enjoy it.**

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"Man Ray, you look like you got rammed by a bus." Sure Tyson, if that buses name is Kai.

Everything hurts, and I mean EVERYTHING. I have bruises on my hips and legs, around my neck and I think on my back; damn wall. Lucky for me Mariah and the kids took off before I woke up, so now it's just us men hanging around Tyson's place. I've been trying to make some kind of breakfast for these guys but every time I move it hurts, turn my head-that hurts, take a step-yup that hurts too. I didn't even wrap my hair because I can't lift my hands above my head. Damn you Hiwatari, and yes, I can see you over there smirking behind your coffee.

"So, what should we do today?" Tyson asks, he's been asking the same thing since I got down stairs. Currently he's sitting at the table watching me cook, it's kind of annoying.

Max showed up after the kids and wives left, Daichi and Kenny soon came afterwards and they've been chatting it up together for a while now. Kai is sitting at the table, facing me and drinking his coffee. I should have spiked it, just to wipe that smirk off his face.

"To be honest Tyson, I'd just like to hang out here." I offer, flipping what I think is a pancake. It's not my best work, I'll give you that, but it'll be edible; more or less.

"Well that's no fun Ray." Tyson pouts at me.

"He got mugged last night, leave him be." Kai says over the rim of his mug.

"What? No way, man are you alright?" Max comes running into the kitchen and starts inspecting me like I'm five.

"He looks worse than I do." I give him a smile. Ha ha, I wish he looked as bad as I did. Remind me again why I had to be bottom?

"Did you make a police report?" His big blue eyes are still dancing over me and I shake my head to his question.

"Didn't need to, he left after I gave him a few good kicks." Are we done now Max?

"No wonder Kai got onto you last night." Tyson mumbles, which means they did hear me yelling at him; whoops.

"Yeah, sorry about yelling so loud." I rub the back of my head and give them a bit of a chuckle. At least that's all they heard.

"Don't sweat it." Tyson waves at my words. "When's breakfast going to be ready, I'm starving?"

"Just give me a bit more time." I turn back from him, and I burnt one of the pancakes; great…

Eventually I get my limbs in proper working order and dish out the food, I threw away the burnt one, even though I thought about giving it to Kai; what an ass, and yes, a very nice looking one at that. We eat in pretty much silence and just enjoy the company we have, thank you Hilary for giving us this; I could kiss you. I'm pretty sure she did that just so we could be together like this; what a wonderful woman. Amidst our peaceful breakfast Kai's phone starts ringing in his pocket, without a word he stands up and heads out the back door. We don't comment and finish our meals, Max and Tyson head to the living room while I go about cleaning until Kenny offers to help. Kai's been outside for a while, so I slip away to find him.

Out by the tree in the back corner of the yard, he's got the phone plastered to his ear and he doesn't look happy in the least about what the other person is telling him. Do I stay or go? Stupid me goes over quietly, he catches my eye but doesn't give me a look that says I should leave, so I stand by him till he finishes his conversation; which was in Russian.

"Everything alright?" I ask as he puts his phone away and pulls out something else. Cigarettes?! When the hell did he start that up?!

"Nothing to worry about." He slips one between his lips, swoon, and lights it and takes a drag, making sure to blow the smoke away from me but my nose is already turned up from the smell.

"So… What… Um… What do we do now?" I almost whisper as if someone else was around and could possibly hear us.

"You get a divorce and come back with me." He says it likes it's so easy to do and I just stare at him.

"I can't." I mumble. As much as I want to, the Village laws forbid divorce; for any reason. Not to mention they'd kill me for being with another man, yeah great people aren't they?

"Why not?" He takes another drag and blows it away again, it gets carried away in the breeze until it disappears.

"Divorce doesn't happen in the Village, and they'd kill me for being with you."

"We're not going to the Village, so why should that matter?" He still makes it sound so easy.

"They'd find me…" I step back from him; my heart is breaking as I realize that last night will never happen again. We'll never actually be together like I want, I'll have to keep living a lie with a woman I can't stand.

"Doubt that." He scoffs, by now his cigarette is done and he puts it out with his foot. "Listen to me."

My head snaps up to look at him, his tone is threatening and serious.

"I've lived a lie for ten years, because I was forced to. You made a mistake and did the right thing, even if you hated it. I get it, we've both fucked up here and I don't blame you. You can come back with me, divorced or not it doesn't matter, but the choice is yours." With that he starts to walk past me and I grab his arm, stopping him as he stops beside me.

"I want to, I really do. But I can't, I have a child Kai." I tried to make him understand, even with my heart shredding in pieces.

"She can come." He shrugs, once again he doesn't seem to understand the severity of all this.

"Kai?!" I spin him around to face me, and he looks a bit shocked now that he can see my face and how angry I look; even if I don't want to be. "It's not as simple as you're trying to play this out to be. I can't just run off with you, even if I really want to, and trust me I REALLY want to. I'd only be putting us in danger, they WILL find us and they WILL kill us." I make sure he can hear the sound of concern and worry in my voice; his face goes soft for a bit while he thinks it over and I wait.

"I'd kill them before they got the chance." His face turns dark, and not the normal darkness it normally has. It's almost as if he means it, like he may have done it before and my legs feel weak at the thought.

My hand releases his arm as I'm struck by fear, I don't like that look on his face and for a minute he doesn't even look like the same man I've known most of my life. He steps back from me as his face goes soft again, a sigh escapes his lips and he runs a hand through his bangs.

"Ray… Look, I'm not going to force you. But if you want to come back with me, and be happy for once then do so. If not, I won't stop you and I won't do anything else. I'll go back to the hotel and the only other time we'll see each other is at the tournament." He offers and he looks hurt, I can see it in his eyes as they've locked onto mine.

I didn't want this, I don't want this. I want to be with him, I want to be happy. I can't answer him, I don't have one in my head as I'm left standing and watching him walk back to the house. It's happening again, he's leaving me and I can't stop him. The ground comes rushing up to me as I fall to me knees, biting back the tears that desperately want to come out. He didn't see me fall, he had already gone back inside and I can't stand up now because my legs are shaking as I cry.

I stayed under the tree for a good few hours, my mind was blank as I had yet to come up with anything. I knew the elders would come for me, it's happened before and they paraded the poor man's dead body around like a trophy on a pike. For being part cat, you'd think they'd be more open minded but that's far from the truth. When their way of life has been threatened, tainted, they don't hesitate to make an example out of you. If I left they'd find me, they'd kill me and they'd kill Rin. Luckily the poor soul they did find hadn't had any children, but it's what they'd do. They fear that homosexuality can transfer blood lines, they'd kill her because she's my child and only because I'm not straight.

I could take Kai's word and that he will protect us, because she would have to come with me. She wouldn't be safe at all in the Village if they ever found out, I would still have to be married which means him and I would never be able to. I know that really doesn't matter, but I would like to be married to him. My mind is telling me not to, but my heart is telling me yes. Just about every fiber of my being is screaming at me to go with him, that he would protect us. That look in his eye, it was as if has killed before and at first it scared the living shit out of me. Though, that would give us the upper hand on everything. He would need to be able to protect us, and Goh. He'd be dragged back as well, killed along with the rest of us. Like I said, great people aren't they?

* * *

I don't know how I got here, standing in his room now. One minute I was fighting my inner thoughts, screaming and tearing at my hair trying to fight the urge to be with him. Next, I'm standing in his room watching him pack his things. He looks down trodden, as if he may have been in the same inner turmoil I had been in. He knows I'm here, even if he's not facing me. I wouldn't face me either if I broke someone's heart the way I have, I've felt it before when he left the first time.

"Kai." I step closer, everything in me is telling me not to. This is wrong, our love for each other isn't worth dying over.

It's too late now though, I've pulled him to me and he doesn't fight back. Our lips meet and I feel every part of me light up, a shock wave has hit my body and I don't fight back; even though I should. He's gentle with me, much like our first round the night before. I never knew he could be so gentle, and it takes my breath away. He holds me close and I hold him just as tightly, our lips still locked and I don't want to pull away even though I'm losing air.

We break apart, much to my dismay and my head is completely blank again. We stare each other down, waiting for something to happen again and it seems to go on forever till he pulls me back in an embrace. His fingers are running through my hair gently, and I can't help but cry again into his chest. I don't want to hurt anyone, I don't want to die because I love him. Our children don't deserve to die because their fathers are 'freaks', he doesn't deserve what will happen to us.

"I will protect us, you can trust me." He says softly into my ear, and I shudder against his warm breath that tickles my skin.

My hands tighten against his shirt as I nod my head in understanding, a lump had grown in the back of my throat and I force it down hard. He tilts my chin to meet his gaze again and for once I'm not peeved that I'm the shortest of us all now. I like how he stands tall over me, protecting me. Our lips make contact again in another passionate induced kiss, I can feel his love for me with such a simple touch. Tongues meet and dance in our mouths, and I can taste the lingering smoke from his cigarettes but somehow it suits him, so I don't gag on it. In fact, it's almost as intoxicating as he is as he's tugging me back to the bed and I let him.

We fall down together, moans escape our lips once our bodies make full contact. Hands start to roam and my shirts about over my head when the front door opens and we hear Hilary yelling at Makoto. I jump back from him, my heart racing as I can hear the kids running up the stairs excited for us to see their new clothes. Kai jumps off the bed going back to looking like he's busy packing, even though I think I've convinced him to stay now. I stay on the bed but fix my shirt back down just as the door bursts open, Goh comes rushing in with such a bright smile on his face it makes my heart swell.

"Look dad, look at what Hilary got me!" He's rummaging through his shopping bag, pulling out odds and ends of clothes. That sweet boy, I've doomed him to hell.

"I gave you money, you didn't have to do that." Kai glanced at the clothes than at Hilary who had stopped in the doorway.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It was my pleasure. He's such a sweet boy." She waves at his words with a bright smile on her face. "I used what you gave me for his lunch though, here's the change." She steps in and hands him some loose change in his open hand. He nods at her and she starts to walk away till she freezes in the doorway again, slowly she turns to look at me and I freeze. Shit, I know it looks weird me sitting in here and I should have left.

"Mariah's looking for you." She smiles at me then leaves, I deflate. I didn't need her pestering me with questions, my body can't take it right now.

I look at the open door then back to Kai, he catches my gaze then turns back to Goh who is still pulling out clothes to show him. A smile is on his lips as he's watching his son, and once again I feel a pain of guilt swell in me. I can't do this, as much as I want to. I won't have their lives hang in the balance because I love him.

Willing myself off the bed I go off to find my wife and daughter, I can feel his eyes locked on my back but I don't turn around to meet his gaze again; I can't. This is it, my last time being with him. I won't subject them to their deaths, it wouldn't be fair to anyone. With every step my heart shatters, I can't stand it but I put on a brave face for my daughter.

* * *

Thankfully a lighter calm had overcome us during the rest of the day, though he kept his distance from me and I him. It was so much like the last time we saw him, it's unbearable just like it had been the first time. The kids have been playing games on the TV down stairs and Rin is doing pretty well, for someone who has never held a gaming controller before.

After dinner Max, Kenny, and Daichi leave much like they've been doing and I'm waiting for him to announce his departure, my breath is caught in my throat through it all. I can't keep my eyes off him and I don't care if they see me starring at him, he's just sitting in his chair watching Goh and Rin tag-team against Makoto on their game.

Then he stands, it's well past 10 at night and my legs are going weak by the minute he's just standing there. He bends down and ruffles Goh's hair, it looks so much likes his but a bit tamer in the front.

"I'm going to take a shower, finish your game and then go take one yourself." He commands and I deflate. He's not leaving and I feel a joy I shouldn't be feeling. He's staying and it's only going to make this harder on us; on me.

All eyes were on him as he went up the stairs until he disappeared, Goh didn't seem to have heard him as he just started another round of their game. I relax as best I could against the couch, trying to focus on the game in front of me while Tyson is shouting for Makoto to go a different way, but it's too late as Rin just killed his character. Tyson jumps from the couch and joins the game, sadly he doesn't do any better and Goh takes out his character. We burst out laughing at him and it feels good to laugh, too much tension in one day isn't good for anyone.

"While the kids are busy, maybe we should go upstairs?" Mariah wraps her arms around mine as she leans in to whisper that in my ear. I bristle at the thought and try to hide the blush that comes over my face. It would be hypocritical of me to say no because we're in Tyson's house, but I do so anyways.

"This is Tyson's house."

"I'll be quiet." Yeah, right. Half the time it's all fake anyways, mainly because I don't put much effort into it, yet she still has to make me go deaf half the time.

"It would be rude too, and I'm still sore from the attack last night." I whisper back, knowing no one can hear us, nor are they paying attention as Tyson has just been killed again.

"I can make you feel better." She starts to rub her hands on my arms and they stiffen under her touch. For a woman her hands aren't soft and her touches are always too rough, if anything she'd hurt me more. Kai, even with his calloused hands and rough skin knew how to touch without adding more pain.

"I'm fine." I pull away, I can't stand her touching me and I don't need the others to catch on to what she's doing.

She pouts at me as I stand and walk away, the only place I know where to go is my room, but I don't go there. Instead I'm back in his room, he's still in the shower as I can hear it running. I locked the door behind me because I know she'll start to look for me soon, and I don't need the kids to come in either. The shower stops, along with my heart as I brace myself for him to come back in. It takes him a while before he does, the towel is draped carelessly over his head and he's in nothing. I can feel the heat radiate across my cheeks as I look him over quickly, he catches on and smirks back at me.

"We should stop meeting like this." He chuckles at me and comes closer, tilting my chin up so he can kiss me, but I pull away.

"We need to talk, you need to understand the severity of it all." I look away from him, focusing on the floor below the bed.

"I told you, I will protect you." He crosses his arms over his chest, towel still draped over his head without anything on.

"Get dressed, or something." I still can't look at him, and the blush is only getting more intense.

I hear him sigh and shuffle around a bit, I look back and he's put on a pair of sweats and stands back in front of me, arms crossed. How very Kai like of him, he never did change much.

"I'm telling you, even if you could protect us they won't stop. Not until they kill us, and I mean all of us. You, me, Rin, and Goh. Is it worth putting them in danger?" I ask taking in his gaze with mine, trying to show him that this needs to be taken seriously. He frowns at the mention of his son's name, and looks to be in thought for a moment.

"If I say I will protect us, I mean it. Don't take my words so lightly. It doesn't matter how many they send after us. They will all find the same fate. If you're asking me if our love is worth fighting for, then yes it is. You can't gain anything if you run from your problems, we both can attest to that, don't you think?" His voice is calm, but his face is still holding an angry look to it.

"Kai… We'd be putting our kid's lives in danger." I pleaded.

A silence has grown over us as he's back in thought, his eyebrows are furrowed and then they arch repeatedly. Whatever it is he's thinking about has caused another darkness to cross over his face and once again it scares me.

"They're already in danger." He whispers out, and it looked like it hurt him to say that.

"What do you mean?" My heart sunk at his words, what more could be threatening our families?

"The reason I left… The reason we're where we are now." He starts and then catches my gaze, making sure he has my attention.

"I entered a contracted marriage devised by Voltaire, he needed an heir aside from me. Being in love with you, which he somehow found out about; even though I had no idea at the time, wouldn't give him an heir. So, he made me sign a contract promising to be married and unable to divorce on my own. She had to do it and she did, it was finalized last month." He pauses and now I understand why he has no ring, why he sounded more less than thrilled whenever she was brought up. He was in love with me, and forced into something he didn't want. I won't lie, it made me happy to hear he's loved me for so long.

"After the divorce Tala, Bryan, and I devised a plan to kill Voltaire and Boris. We succeeded in killing Boris, but Voltaire got away. Before all this, he threatened everyone again. He said the contract didn't matter to him, he could have already killed everyone if he wanted to. It didn't matter to him that I had kept up my end of the deal, he made it very clear to me that he has no remorse for any of it. They deserve to die, for putting everyone's lives at stake." He pauses again seeing the fear in my eyes; I was right. He has killed before and when he had said it, he smiled as if he enjoyed it. I can't blame him though, not fully. Those two had been the reason for all his suffering, and I agreed with him; they deserved to die.

"The call I got earlier was from Tala, they still haven't found Voltaire. They're out there searching for him, I was getting to worry since I hadn't heard from them in the past month. But now, I'm even more worried since they've come up with nothing. It doesn't matter what your Village thinks or thinks what they can do, we will be safe. I can promise you that." I can only nod, all the information he's just given me is so much to take in and I don't know how to respond to it all.

He loved me, always has, and Voltaire found out and manipulated him. I can't say I'm surprised about that, but it still got under my skin. Sure, it wasn't Voltaire's fault for what I had done, but I'm still blaming him for it all. Ten years that man stole from us, ten years we could have been together and actually enjoying life; each other. The thought of him actually being a killer makes my skin crawl, but I don't judge him. He had to do what he needed, and I'm proud of him for facing his demons. If he was able to kill Boris and have Tala and Bryan tracking down Voltaire, I can trust him to keep us safe.

"Ray?" He calls to me softly, I must look like hell if he sounds concerned for me. I'll admit, I feel like hell as everything is still processing. I nod again to let him know I'm still there and listening.

"I will protect us." He places a hand on my shoulder with such care, I can't help but feel loved.

I nod again, our eyes locked on the others. I want to believe him, I really do. I just hope I'm not making an even bigger mistake than when I had married Mariah. I need him, I want him. He needs me, he wants me. If we die, then so be it. At least our love was something worth fighting for; that's what I told myself then.


	6. Chapter 6

He was scared, I could tell, but I didn't care. I'm not afraid, not for us or our children. I know I'd be able to protect them, I had too. I didn't like the looks on his face when I told him what I had done to Boris, it felt like he was secretly judging me and that hurt. It was now in the open though, everything I had tried to hide from them. My reason for leaving, the reason I had a son; everything was open for him to disclose his thoughts to me. He didn't say much, I think it might have overwhelmed him to an extent. Three days have passed and we haven't said much to each other, nor have we done anything else; which sucks balls.

We can't though, the consequences now would be too much for either of us to deal with right now. So, now we're back to cordial conversation, stolen looks, and not standing too close. Our kids are getting along great, I think Makoto's a bit jealous but oh well; no skin off my teeth. Can't blame Rin, my son takes after me in the looks department; yes, I'm that fucking shallow. I just hoped Rin took a bit more after Ray, I can't stand the color pink; and for good reason. Pinky never liked me and I didn't think I had to hide my displeasure, I quite liked making her squirm under my glares and my smirks when I replayed the image of her husband under me; oh, if she only knew.

Speaking of pink things, I've noticed her desperately trying to get Ray to bed with her; it makes my skin crawl. Though he always comes up with an excuse not to obey her wishes, and I laugh inside from the look of defeat on her face each time. I've thought of ways to dispose of her once the tournament is done, of course I haven't told Ray this, I don't think he'd take it well with me plotting the death of his wife and mother to his child. Though if what he says is true about his Village, then it needs to be done. She'd no doubt try to claw her way back in somehow, she needs to go whether he wants it done or not.

The qualifying rounds begin tomorrow for the tournament, and I am happy for how excited Goh is getting. He's had a pretty normal childhood for the most part, and I envy him a bit. Of course, I wanted better for my own flesh and blood, though that didn't mean Voltaire made things easy. Always hounding on him about how defeat was weakness, how blading wasn't just a sport but a way of obtaining power and defeating your enemies. It got under my skin, but there was hardly anything I could do when Voltaire had my life in the palm of his hands. Goh is a good kid, not as screwed up as myself, but he does have the flame in his eyes to be the best; Voltaire got to him more than I had wished for.

Voltaire is still on the run, Tala and Bryan had a good lead up to a certain point but the trails gone cold again. Last, they knew he was somewhere in the mountains of China, not all too sure why he was there but that's where they lost him. I've gotten a few updates over the past three days, none that make me happy to hear but I know they're doing their best. I called it off for now, telling them to come here for the time being. If Voltaire was in China, there was no doubt he'd be coming to Japan next and I needed the extra security. I had my own gun with me, but having two extra were never a bad idea.

Tyson and Hilary didn't seem all that fazed, when I told them they'd be coming and staying here. Tyson's eyes actually got all misty at the mention of them coming, after Tala had gone into that coma they became sort of close. Though I knew Tala, he was only putting up a front about it, lest he make his Falcon jealous over someone fondling over him. I don't know how Ray will take it though, I haven't told him and neither have the Grangers, I guess they wanted it to be a surprise.

Noon is when they arrived at the house, the air grew cold around us as they just walked into the house as if they owned it; Tyson should really start locking it. Goh was the first to jump up and greet them, going a mile a minute in Russian at them as he told them about the time he's had with his new friends. From the corner of my eyes I saw Pinky grab onto Ray's arm, while pulling Rin onto the couch beside her. Ray glanced at them, his face going pale upon seeing Bryan, but he put on a fake smile once they stepped into the house more. Makoto was looking a bit lost, much like Tyson would have if I hadn't told him already. Hilary was already greeting them like the good wife she is, offering them some drinks and going back to get them from the kitchen. Tyson made a space on the couch for them where he was sitting and they sat down on it, rather hard since the couch moved about an inch back across the wood floor. The other three weren't here yet, all at work; though I don't really care.

They nodded to me and I nodded back, our little secret going unnoticed by the others. All we ever had to do was glance at the other, and the other knew what we were trying to convey. Tala's eyes turned to Ray slightly and unnoticed and then back to me quickly, I gave him another nod of my head when I got the question he was trying to give me. A crooked smirk crossed his lips and he settled back into the couch without a word, that's all he needed to know. He knew I told Ray everything, and he was here to protect him and the others if I failed.

"Well it's great to see you guys." Tyson finally broke the ice, giving Tala his best smile. Like I said, Tyson was 'close' to Tala.

"You too." Tala gave him a warm smirk, still playing along. It was actually quite comical to be honest, if only Tyson knew he was being pulled along.

"What have you been up to? Got any kids?" Tyson asked, glancing to both of them now.

"That's a bit hard to do when you're gay." Tala chuckled.

Everyone's eyes went wide in shock, Pinky's nose curled and I heard a snarl under her breath which I'm sure the other two heard. Good, I didn't need to kill her, Bryan could do it right now for all I cared. The look he was giving her would have been enough, but sadly looks don't kill.

"Ah, I always figured you two would get together." Tyson rubbed the back of his head. "My brother and Brooklyn got together a few years back, they've talked about adopting but I don't know if they've fully agreed to it yet." Well that was news to me, I knew Hiro was gay but I never imagined him and Brooklyn together.

"We're not one for children, though we don't mind Goh." Tala said and then quickly recovered upon seeing Goh frown at his words, ruffling his hair like an older brother might do which seemed to work as Goh just smiled back at him.

"Yeah, he's a pretty good kid. If he didn't look so much like Kai, I'd say he wasn't his kid." Tyson must have thought that was a funny joke, since he laughed after he said it. It didn't bother me though, I knew Goh and I didn't have the same personalities.

The room got quiet again, the only noise coming from the forgotten TV across from us. Hilary had come back with drinks for everyone, and we seemed to just get lost into the dull noise of the TV. It wasn't until I caught sight of Bryan giving me a look and then standing did I get up and follow, Tala doing the same and trailing after us out back. Stopping under the tree in the back corner of the yard we each lit a cigarette and waited for the other to speak, which knowing us took a bit.

"How long do you think we have?" Tala began, blowing his smoke away from us.

"I'd say he'll be there for the tournament. If he's hell bent on something, that's where he'd go." I explained, it just felt like he would be there. Either to kill us all or snatch Goh from me, something I knew he wanted to do badly.

"Ray's the only one who knows?" Tala asked raising an eyebrow and I nodded. "I think I can trust him with the information then. Bryan, go get him for me, will you?" He turned his charm towards his lover, which Bryan never seemed to turn down. Not to mention Bryan had already finished his cigarette while we were still working on ours.

Without a word Bryan left us, stuffing his pack back into his pocket as he had been ready to get another one out as he left. It took a minute or two before they both came out, I figured Pinky had a hard time letting him go and his face was pale as he followed Bryan out. I knew since the first worlds Ray was still a bit scared of him, and it showed since he was a good few steps from Bryan, even hesitating in the door way before following after him.

Gathered back around the tree now, Ray standing about as close as he could to me and looking at the other two nervously. It was cute to see him all flustered and confused, like a lost cat. Bryan had already dug out his pack, and much to my amusement offered one to Ray, who shook his head so fast I thought his neck would snap.

"So, kitty cat. What's new?" Tala began, having finished his stick and pulling out another.

"Not much." Ray squeaked; how adorable.

"Hm… So, you know why we're here?" Tala gave him a quick look over, shifting one arm around his waist to prop the elbow of his hand that held his stick in the bend.

"Not really." Ray shrugged.

"Well, you know we killed Boris?" Ray simply nodded to Tala's question. "Good, well Voltaire's still out there and we think he might be coming here. We don't have any clue to what it is he's planning, but we know none of us are safe." Tala paused a bit, letting his words sink in and I could feel Ray stiffen beside me.

"Don't worry too much, we have it under control." Tala continued, exhaling a cloud of smoke away from us, and I almost scoffed at his lie. We didn't have this under control, that's why they were here.

"So, why are you telling me this?" Ray looked to all three of us, worry was in his eyes and it made me uneasy for a minute.

"Well, aren't you and Kai together now?" Tala almost looked just as lost as Ray did for a second.

"Well… Sort of… We haven't really figured it out." He rubbed the back of his head, a sheepish grin on his face.

"What's there to figure out?" Tala cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm married?" Ray's tone hinted on sarcasm and confusion and he almost squeaked out his words.

"Doesn't look like that stopped you from having the time of your life." Ray stiffened again beside me, his face almost losing any kind of color to it.

"You told them?" He turned to me.

"No." I lied. I'm sorry kitten, but that was the best damn sex of my entire life, I had to tell someone.

"It's all over your face. If the others weren't so stupid, they'd have picked it up by now." Nice save Tala, thank you.

"Doesn't matter, we still haven't figured it all out."

"Why?" Damn Tala, let him breathe for a second.

"It's not that simple, I'm married and have a kid. The Village forbids divorce and will kill us." Tala nodded a bit at his explanation, though from the look on his face told me he didn't like the sound of it.

"Well that won't do. Guess we'll just have to kill them." He said it so matter-of-factly and I can see why Ray was so upset three days ago. I sounded the same way when he told me, I had just brushed past his own concerns, and I could see the hurt in his eyes again from Tala's words that mirrored my own.

"We'll figure it out, it's not our first priority right now." I stepped in, I didn't like seeing Ray so upset.

"Right. So, how should we go about this?" Tala asked, crushing his stick under his boot.

"The security will be minimal to begin with, so it's just us. I can't do much when Goh's to blade, it'd be too suspicious if I just left. Though, I have a feeling that Voltaire might make his move during his match. If he can't get us, he'll get him. You know he's always been after him, and we shouldn't expect him to be alone." It didn't take me long to come up with that, and they all nodded as they let it sink in.

"If security isn't going to be tight, we shouldn't have a problem bringing the big guns." Bryan smirked and I felt Ray stiffen against me again.

"Guns?" His eyes grew wide as he looked at each of us.

"Yeah, how do you expect to kill anyone without it?" Tala asked sarcastically.

"Guns are against the law in Japan for citizens." He protested.

"Good thing we're not citizens of Japan then, eh?" Tala chuckled.

"Do you have one?" He turned to me.

I glanced around making sure no eyes were on us and flashed him my piece that sat on my hip. He jumped back a bit, as if it was going to come right out of its holster and shoot him. Covering it back with my jacket and setting it straight again I sighed, he needed to understand this wasn't a game we were playing.

"It's if worse comes to shove." I offered, but I don't think he took it.

"It wouldn't matter if worse came to shove, your whole plan is to kill him anyways, right?" We all nodded. "Damn… I should have stayed home." He mumbled looking at the sky as if it was going to help him somehow.

"Hey." Bryan barked, snatching Ray's attention to him from the sky. "You wouldn't even be here now if it wasn't for Kai. You think it's bad now? He had to sacrifice his life for you all, because he cared so much about you all to begin with. This is us, making it right. If it scares you so damn much, then get the fuck out while you can." Bryan sneered, and his pale face was starting to turn red.

Ray wasn't the only one shocked by his words, Tala and I just stared at him in bewilderment. Part of me wanted to punch the ass for talking to Ray like that, but he was right. If Ray was that afraid, I would let him go.

"That's not what I meant. My main concern is our children, if they're in that much danger we should have them cancel the tournament." Ray stood his ground, he may have been scared shitless but he faced Bryan head on; and what a turn on that was.

"If we do that, we'll lose Voltaire again. This maybe our only chance at actually luring him to us, without him sneaking in the night and slitting all our throats. Including the children." Tala began, his voice normal till his last sentence, where a darkness grew over his face and his voice was ice cold.

"So, we're all bait?" Ray bit back.

"It's not that we intended for it to be, but it's come to that now." I offered, placing a hand on his shoulder and I could feel him shaking from anger. "Trust me, it's not like I wanted to put Goh's life at risk like this, or anyone else's." His nerves relaxed and his shoulders slumped forward, nodding his head as he understood.

"What should I do then?" He asked, regaining his composure.

"Nothing." Tala couldn't have made it sound more casual if he tried.

"Then why are you telling me?"

"In case we do need you. You're a neko-jin, you have good hearing, eyesight, and stealth. If you can use those to our advantage, if things go down, then that's all the more reason to keep you informed." Tala explained, a crooked smirk on his lips.

"Alright." Ray nodded, as he went to speak a loud shrill yelling came from the back door.

All our heads swiveled to look at it, and surprise, surprise; not really. Stood Pinky, waving over at him like some high school girl. He stiffened again beside me and took a slight step as if to hid behind me; it was kind of cute. He always did that too after the third world championships, too bad I was too blind to see it then.

"Ray-Ray, it's time for lunch! Tyson's taking us all out, let's go." She cheered at as from the safety of the door way, which I don't blame her. She looked ready to piss her pants when Bryan looked at her.

Being the last one to finish my stick I sucked it down and crushed it under my boot, following the other two towards the door. Pinky had run back inside so fast when they started forward, I almost laughed. I stopped walking behind them, Ray's hand grabbed my wrist before I got too far from him.

"Hey." He said in a whisper.

"Hi." I turned slightly to face him, his shoulders were trembling again. "What's wrong?" I didn't want to be angry with him, it wasn't his fault for having a normal childhood where you could have feelings. I on the other hand, had none except a few that slipped through the walls that I built up. So, I didn't understand why he was still so nervous about it all.

"I want to do more, not just stand around and keep a look out. I don't want to be completely useless to you guys." His eyes met mine and I could tell the moment I looked into them, he was serious, dead serious.

"Do you know how to handle a gun?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"A hunting rifle, but that's about it." He shrugged.

"Don't have one of those on us, but we'll make do with what we can. The qualifiers are tomorrow and I don't think he'll show up to that, and we have two days after that till the actual thing starts. So, we'll take you out somewhere and give you a few lessons." I started again, figuring our conversation was over. I was wrong.

He pulled me back quickly and pressed his lips to mine. I froze, what if someone came out? Hell, I didn't give a fuck once his tongue slipped in my mouth. When did he get so dominate all of a sudden? Hell, if I knew or cared. I pulled him closer, god I had missed his scent and taste. It took us a minute before we pulled away; breathless. A tint of pink crossed the bridge of his nose as he gave me a sheepish grin, as if he was now just teasing me; damn him.

"Sorry. Three days with that trying to get in your pants non-stop kind of makes you uneasy." He joked, and I smiled back at it. "Should prolly go before someone comes out." He started in front of me, and I let him go in first to not arouse suspicions.

I watched him leave, my eyes locked onto the back of his head and then something caught my eye in the windows of the second floor; FUCK! Rin's little head pulled down and away from the window once our eyes locked onto each other. She saw everything, had to have had seen it all. I'm not an easy man to scare, but knowing what she saw, sent a cold shiver down my spine. We didn't need the extra tension, not now.

Casually I made my way back into the house, everyone was by the front door gathering their shoes from the stand that sat by the door, all in idle friendly chatter. Soft thuds of feet came bounding down the stairs; Rin. I glanced her way and gave her a look, hoping it'd be enough to keep her from opening that cute little mouth of hers. She froze under my gaze and her pink pig-tails almost stood on end on her head, Ray caught on and gave me a questioning look that I ignored. Tala happened to look as well, and I saw the shimmer in his eyes that told me he knew and gave me a nod of the head; he'd be keeping a watchful eye on her when I couldn't. Bless that man.

* * *

Our late lunch turned into an early dinner, so when we got back to the house the kids were ushered upstairs for bed. Tala ended up pulling me back outside, his ever-faithful lover on our heels. Back under the tree we stood, Tala's arms crossed as he was trying to think of something to say as his nose scrunched up in thought.

"What the hell Kai?" He yelled, I shrugged my shoulders lighting myself a cigarette. "Don't look like it's not a big deal, what were you thinking?!" He's yelling a bit high-pitched than he normally sounds and it's making my eardrums ring.

"You think I'm that stupid?" I shot him a glare, and he shut his mouth. "I didn't do anything, he came onto me after you all left." I sneered, even though I wasn't particularly happy with being found out, I did enjoy our little exchange.

"God, you two are hopeless." Tala sighed, palming his forehead. "We have enough to worry about, now you've gone and stuck your dick where it doesn't belong." Tala sighed again, this time shaking his head.

"You weren't complaining." I smirked at him, his face going bright red and Bryan chuckled to his right.

"I'm not talking about us, and you know that." He hissed back and I shrugged again, getting bored with this.

Rin didn't look like she was ready to tell her mother or anyone for that matter. At our meal, she could hardly go anywhere without one of us trailing behind her. I think she got the hint that she should keep her mouth shut, I could tell she was more afraid of Bryan than Tala or myself, so he tailed her half the time. Pinky looked so confused and ready to claw our eyes out, Ray looked hopeless and confused. He had no idea we had been found out, and I didn't need to tell him; we all had enough on our minds.

"Just please, keep it in your pants till we can deal with the BIGGER issue at hand. Then we can figure out what to do about country boy's home and their small minds." He sounded exhausted, and I was too just from listening to him, he sure could ramble when he felt the need.

"Yes, _mother_." I smirked back at him, blowing out a cloud in his direction. He fumed as he just let it engulf his face, acting as if it didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Fine, now that I've made my point. I'm going to bed." Tala huffed and turned on his heel, leaving with Bryan following behind him. They were to be sleeping on the couches in the living room, since the rooms were all taken up and I didn't need Goh knocking my lights out if he had a night terror.

They left me under the tree all by myself, not that I cared. I liked the peace it brought me, the air was slightly warm since it was the middle of summer but it wasn't deathly hot, but I still shrugged my jacket off and let it sit on the ground. Untucking my shirt, I pulled the hem over my gun; just in case someone came around, even though the yard was surrounded by a large wooden fence that stood about eight feet high.

It didn't take long till I wasn't alone anymore, he may have been able to sneak up on others, but I always knew when he was watching me. Up in the tree, he must have gone around the back of the house and jumped up into it. I blew out a cloud of smoke, leaning against the trunk of the tree where I knew he was sitting above my head. I casually looked up and gave him a smirk, he smiled back down at me, his golden eyes reflecting brightly in the moonlight.

"She knows." I told him, and his smile faded for a second.

"Who?" He tried to hide his nervousness, but I knew it was there.

"Rin." I stuck the stick between my lips and started up the tree, a bit less graceful than I had liked, but I made it up to him on the third branch and sat next to him.

"How?" There was his concern, full force in his voice and in his eyes.

"She saw us. I don't think she'll say anything though, Bryan and Tala are keeping an eye on her."

"That explains why she's crying with Mariah right now. She hasn't said anything, I don't think she will either. Not with those two around." Ray chuckled, his concern washing away. "I'm sorry, it was my fault." He took my hand that sat next to his, which I allowed since no one could see us anyways.

"I wanted you to." I squeezed his hand to reassure him.

"I'll tell her everything, once the other problems are taken care of." He kept his hand in mine but turned away to look at the back of the house.

I'll be honest, I've never felt this way about someone before. I truly loved him, as much as I could tell, he loved me the same. We sat in silence for a long time, my cigarette discarded now, which I think he was thankful for. We didn't talk or do anything, but stare at the back of the house in silent content. I would protect him, as I've always done and he would be mine for good. That's what I told myself, I was never wrong so I knew what I had felt wasn't wrong.

Much to my dismay, I had never been so wrong before in my life.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors note:**

 **Hey, just wanted to stop by, ask if you all like the dark undertones and my sad attempt at being funny?**

 **Warning for this chapter include lime/lemon? (Why do we even call it that?)**

 **Either way, hope you all enjoy this.**

* * *

"Hey, not bad kitten. You're a natural." Thanks Tala, maybe you should stop calling me kitten, or I'll shove this blasted gun up your ass.

"Thanks." Give him a warm smile, resist the urge to shoot that smug look off his face; good job Ray.

I'm relatively surprised myself at how quickly I've adapted to shooting this thing, it's not heavy or light; it's somewhere in-between. All black, the barrel is rather short so I have no clue what the gun is actually called. All I know, is that this is supposed to protect us, protect our friends and children. I don't feel that much different holding it, I don't think it's going to change me and what kind of person I am; even _if_ I have to shoot someone. This is the only way, that's what I keep telling myself at least.

They, three evil Russians, brought us out to this field and set up a few cans and beer bottles to shoot at. It's been, fun? Yeah, I'm actually enjoying this. It's mid-day, so trying to pry myself away from Mariah was harder than expected. Luckily Bryan had the perfect excuse. - "It's none of your fucking business."- Yeah, good job Bry…

"You need to stand taller." Kai offers, walking over to where I'm standing as he puts his gun back in its holster on his hip; and damn it's sexy.

"Like this?" I ask, for some reason every time I go to shoot, I look like I'm about to launch a beyblade; guess out of habit? I straighten my stance before he even reaches me, and he gives me a quick look over.

"Relax your shoulders." So, I do what I'm told; like I'm a five-year-old.

"Better?" I ask, and slightly turn to him forgetting the gun is in my hands and my finger is on the trigger.

"Hey! Don't point that at anyone!" Bryan shouts and he jumps behind Tala, who knew he was so jumpy?

"The safety's on… I think." I pull it closer to look at, and yup, the safety is on. I give them an innocent smile, while they all breathe a heavy sigh of relief.

"Try and shoot the farthest beer bottle out there." Kai turns and points across the field, I can see it pretty clearly but I'd say it's a good distance away. I've been taking out the closer ones nearby, and I've only missed four times in the hour we've been here.

"You sure?" I ask, turning to lock onto my new target.

"You have to be able to shoot far, not every time will there be an enemy within the perfect range."

"Yeah, and they're not gonna be sitting still either." I retort, and I can see him glare at me. Wrong choice of words I guess, but oh well. "Alright, I'll try." I shrug as if his glare doesn't bother me; which is it doesn't.

A few shots ring out and my target is shattered, but it wasn't me who shot it. I look over and see Bryan with his arm out, the barrel of his gun is smoking slightly. That was my target! I will my pupils to turn to slits as I turn to him, I am pissed!

"That was mine, what the hell?!" I shout, he's standing not too far off from where Kai and I are and Tala is standing behind Bryan lighting a cigarette.

"You have to be quick, if that was a moving target you'd have been dead. We can't keep our eyes on you to make sure that you don't get killed, there are others too." He responds with a sneer and I narrow my eyes at him. I know this isn't a game, so why do they keep treating me as if I think it is?!

He raises his arm again and I can see the target he wants to take out, I switch the safety off and aim, almost knocking my arm into Kai's face, I jerked it up so quick. Pull the trigger and bam! Bryan's target became mine, and I smirk at him as I keep my arm held up. Tala whistles between his smoking, and I can see Bryan fuming. Guess he doesn't like it when people take out his targets.

"Gotta be quicker Bryan." I offer, placing my empty palm to my hip, while giving him a toothy grin.

He didn't like that, at all! I would have peed myself from what he did next, but I was too stunned to really do anything. He turned slightly, arm held up as he stands with his gun in my direction. The look on his face is not a pleasant one, and I don't think his safety is on. I didn't even see Kai get more between us than he already was, but he also had his own gun at the ready, pointing it at Bryan. Tala stepped back from Bryan a few good feet, he looked to be indifferent to this new situation while he blew out a cloud of smoke. Great, thanks Tala, knew we could count on you to stop your maniac boyfriend over there.

I don't even move except lowering my gun to my side, that was about all I could do. I didn't want to challenge Bryan, not after the first worlds where he almost killed me with a damn spinning top! I didn't want to be on the end of his gun, it would actually do the job and there were no hospitals nearby; why me?!

It seemed like an eternity that Bryan and Kai stared each other down, neither one of them moved or blinked. I could feel my knees getting weaker by the second, I was sweating now, even though I was in a tank top with shorts on, and my hair tied up in a high pony tail. This was becoming too much on my nerves, I had no idea what was running through their heads at this point in time. Then I saw Bryan's eyes shift to his right and in a flash, he aimed the gun and shot at a can not too far from where he stood. I jumped at the sound of the gun, the noise ringing in my ears. The can had jumped into the air and he shot it a few more times, keeping it up in the air as it convulsed under the heavy fire. Kai turned and shot at the same can and I noticed that Bryan's next shot had missed, I was too dumbstruck to do anything but watch.

They unloaded the rest of their clips into the can, and it fell back to the ground. It didn't even look like a can anymore, it was ripped open and torn in half. They took a more relaxed stance, the arms they held their guns in dropping to their sides. Did I miss something? I feel like I did, now they don't look as hard pressed at shooting at each other. Finding the air in my lungs, I let out a sigh of relief. Tala is clapping from the tree he found himself under, his cigarette is out so he must have finished it watching his pals murder that poor can. I want to speak, but my voice has left me and has probably found a new home under a rock somewhere.

"You two done now?" Tala breaks the unbearable silence, and I couldn't be happier that someone has. They don't answer him, they just look in his general direction and he sighs. I guess they can read minds now? I have no clue, but my voice is still under its rock, so I can't say anything.

"I think kitty's gotten the point, so. How bout we go get something to eat?" Tala claps his hands together, as if it's the best idea in the world, and it is; I'm starving.

Once again, they communicate just by looking at each other, which is weird in my opinion, but hey it got us moving and cleaning up our mess of broken cans and bottles. Tala took my gun, and I'll be honest, I was sad to have to give it back. I liked having it in my hand, I don't know why but it did give me a sense of comfort; and power that I never knew I had. The cleanup was quiet and quick, we hardly looked at each other as we bent down and picked out every shard of glass out of the grass. The cans were easier to pick up, though the edges were sharp and I nicked my finger on one.

When we got back to Bryan's rental Jeep, Kai wrapped my finger in a bandage for me. It was the sweetest thing, even though I could have done it myself; oh well. There was quite a bit of blood, even for such a small nick and it stung like a bitch! I didn't bother asking where they were taking me off next, as long as it had to do with food I was happy. I had skipped breakfast and Hilary was forced to cook, I had been too tired to cook. Sleeping on that damn floor these past few days has been utter hell, then we all go up bright and early yesterday for the qualifiers for the tournament. It's not really a surprise all our children advanced to the actual rounds, we're all very proud, and I don't think I've ever seen Kai happier than he did when Goh came out on top. It was sweet, he really does love his son.

Him and I are stuffed in the back of Bryan's rental Jeep, Bryan is driving and Tala is sitting beside him talking off his ear about something, I can't understand anything since it's in Russian and every now and then Kai offers something into the conversation; honestly, I feel a bit left out. I shift a bit uncomfortably in my seat, trying to keep my limbs in the moving vehicle since the doors have been taken off.

"You alright?" Kai leans over and asks me, he hasn't touched me since the night in the tree and so when he takes my hand in his I jump slightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just have no clue what's being said." I whisper back, leaning close enough the other two don't hear what I say.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." He smirks, and I can tell by the way he looks that I don't. "You did good today, I'm quite surprised." He compliments me before leaning back into the seat beside me.

"Thanks." I can only must a half smile, sure, I did good on non-moving targets. But how will I actually fair on real moving targets, real other human beings?

He squeezes my hand in his reassuringly, guess he could see my nerves starting to act up as I think about it. I don't want to have to kill other people, I've never had to before. Now though, I understand why it must be done and I can only hope and pray that I don't royally fuck it all up. This would be his chance to get rid of Voltaire for good, even thinking about him is making my blood boil. I have to be strong for him, for us. So that way, when worse comes to shove and word gets out to my Village, I can be prepared to take them out too.

I've realized, we've already lost so much precious time with each other. I won't let more slip through our fingers, call it fate or destiny that we've crossed each other's paths again, but I'm not going to let him go now. I know it's extremely shellfish of me, to be putting our children in harm's way, but I have faith in him; us. Rin knows, but so far, she hasn't squealed. We can thank Bryan for that, I feel kind of bad for her having to be on her toes all the time but there's not much I can do for her. I'll have to explain to her what's going on after the tournament, that is if she hasn't already squealed since we've been gone.

The thought made me tense again, Kai gives me a questioning glance and I shake my head at his unspoken question, though I think he guessed what it was that was on my mind.

"I've already told Goh." He whispers to me, and I give him my own questioning glance yet it's mixed with panic.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" I ask in a rushed whisper, he only shakes his head with a slight chuckle.

"He's a smart kid, tough and resilient. I wasn't not going to tell him, it'd be pretty hard to explain why you and Rin are coming back with us after the tournament anyways."

"What if we weren't going back? I mean, right afterwards?" I ask, and it's a good question. I still had yet to figure out when we would go, but I knew it wouldn't be _right_ after the tournament. I would need time, Rin would need time, to absorb it all before we just up and disappeared.

"It'd be the smarter thing to do." He doesn't look happy with me now, there's a slight glare in his eyes and his nose is a bit upturned.

"I… I don't think it would. Rin isn't like Goh, it'll take time for her to understand everything. I still need to understand everything… To just, disappear right after would only ensure the Village coming after us. I've already told you, they won't stop. Going back first, might be the better way to do this." He's released my hand now, so I'm using both to fiddle with my fingers as I speak. I don't like the way he's looking at me, and I don't like the dull warmness that his touch has left on my skin; I miss the full heat of his touch.

He goes to speak but Tala cuts him off, we've arrived to wherever the hell it is they took us too. I hadn't even been paying attention to where we went, and by the looks of this place, I don't even know where we are.

"Where are we?" I decide to voice my thoughts, getting nothing in return for my valiant effort but some coy smirks as the other two start into the establishment. "Kai?" I turn to him as he starts to climb out the back of the Jeep, but he's now giving me the cold shoulder; great.

Once inside it was rather apparent where we were, a sushi bar. Not that I'm complaining, I love sushi, it just wasn't the first thing on my mind. It smells stale and like an aquarium tank, probably because of the few they have dividing the seating areas. It's not an unpleasant smell, but it's not like walking into an actual place that cooks the food for you.

Mindlessly I follow the three Russians over to a small booth, Tala and Bryan slide together on one end and I follow Kai onto the other side. Tala is practically in Bryan's lap and he doesn't seem to mind, while Kai and I can't be further apart if we even tried. I know he's mad at me, I'm mad at me too, but we can't be open about us lest someone sees us; I can't risk making another mistake like the other night.

I'd like to say that the talks we held were kind and joyful, except for the fact that they spoke Russian the entire time, once again leaving me out of it all; bunch of jackasses. The food wasn't the best I've had, nor was it the worst I've had. It was somewhere in-between, but I really had no complaints. It didn't take long for Tala to order some drinks for us, Bryan had a few drinks even though he was the one driving us; _great_.

* * *

I'm not a light-weight, I swear. But I'll be honest, I have no clue how I got back to Tyson's. One minute I was in the sushi place with three Russians, the next I'm laying in one of their beds; Kai's bed. Only in my boxers, of all things. I think he's in the bathroom, I can hear water running. There's a slight pounding sensation in my head, but his pillow is so soft it's practically a dull ache. I can't move any of my limbs, all I can muster is watching the bathroom door to my right. I don't think anyone was awake when we got home, I don't remember seeing anyone; yet I don't even remember getting up those stairs and in Kai's bed of all things.

Oh good, the bathroom door is opening and I can get some answers; God, he's hot. Bare chest dripping with left over water, hair damp and hanging all around that gorgeous face, toned skin glistening because of said water in the light, towel hung loosely around those trimmed hips? All check. I can't but help lick my lips as he comes into the room, closing the door behind him.

"I thought you were asleep?" He asks once he realizes that I am VERY much awake, and VERY much ogling him like a prized stud.

I only manage to shake my head as he stops by the head of the bed, which increases the ache in that I have in the side of it. He sighs before going about rummaging through his suitcase, which he's kept on the desk by the bed. I don't know what got a hold of me, well actually. Yes. I. Do. I'm drunk and horny, and him waltzing in here like a wet dream, literally. I couldn't help myself, grabbing his wrist and pulling him on top of me. Lips crashing into the others, he brushed his teeth as I can taste the mint toothpaste on his breath.

I was expecting him to push off, tell me that we're risking things we shouldn't be risking right now. Not with the tournament tomorrow, not with Voltaire still out there and certainly not with my soon to be ex and child in the next room. He doesn't, he doesn't do anything except kiss me back. It's me who starts touching, groping his still damp body and hair. I pull him closer to me, like I haven't just spent all day with him and he might disappear if I let go; I don't want to let go.

He says something as we part, but I didn't catch what he said because I pull his lips back into mine. I don't care what he has to say, all I care about it getting that damn towel off of him. It comes off, FINALLY! He moans in our kiss as I grab him and start jerking him off, he was already half way hard and now it's throbbing in my hands, while my own is getting tighter against my boxers. He still doesn't move, he's just laying on top of me, letting me do what I want to him. An ingenious idea flips into my head, and so I flip him over. If he wants to act useless, then he can be useless.

I trap him under me with my legs pinning his down, while I release him and hold his wrists above his head. I can see a faint tint of pink on his cheeks, but he doesn't say anything to me. He's panting, his chest is rising and falling in uneven patterns and so is mine. I must look like some crazed sex addict sitting on top of him, my hair is out and I know it looks wild on the top of my head. I just have a pair of boxers on, I don't even bother to see where the rest of my clothes have gone.

We don't say anything for a while, our eyes are just locked onto the others waiting for some kind of signal to continue. My second head is having enough of waiting and I grind my hips down into him, the fabric of my boxers scrapes against both of us and we both flinch at the feeling. A moan passes my lips a bit too loudly, yet the alcohol in my head is telling me not to worry about it. He bit his lips, so his moan wasn't as loud as my own but I can tell he still has a good amount of alcohol in his system. The way his eyes are glazed over and the way he's not saying anything to me.

I grind down again, harder this time with a bit more force in the initial thrust forward. He arches his back as his head pushes down into the pillow, I can feel him trying to break free of my grasp on his wrists, I dig my nails into his skin and he stops. I lean over him as I continue grinding into him, each time I'm picking up speed as our tongues meet in his mouth; he's allowing me full dominance over him and it's only making me want him more.

Breathless and panting for the little air our lungs desperately need, I release his wrists and get off my only piece of clothing. He just watches and at first, I feel a bit embarrassed since he's just watching, yet it's such a turn on the way his crimson eyes have glazed over with such lust for me I don't give a damn anymore. His fingers have locked tightly at the base of my head as he's pulling my head up and down him, he's throbbing within my mouth and I gag a few times until I get used to him; thankfully it didn't take too long. I can feel he's about to come, so I pull away and he hands me a tube of lube from seemingly nowhere.

I thank him with a coy smirk and he gives me one in return, so I reward him with a gentle kiss as I prepare myself. His fingers haven't left my hair, and I love how he's now massaging my scalp. I give him a raspy purr as thanks in our kiss and his smirk grows bigger against my lips. I pull back, ready to take him and I am a bit more than excited to be top this time. Some kind of noise leaves me as I ease into him, while his nails have now dug into my shoulders; damn I don't care though. This is nothing like being with a woman, its much tighter and less damp, yet it's such a turn on I the only thing my body knows to do is jut forward.

I know I should have been more quiet, I knew I should have bit my goddamn lips or stuffed a sock in my mouth. I couldn't help it though, every thrust and pull some kind of grunt or moan passed my lips. The faster I got, the louder I got all the while he was biting into his forearm to keep quiet. It was too late though, I knew I messed up with the first noise I had made through this whole ordeal. I wasn't even done yet and neither was he; damn.

The bathroom door swung open so fast and hard it hit the wall and almost bounced back into her face, which I only happened to glance at for a second. Another thrust and pull and it finally clicked, my wife. My wife was standing in the doorway of the bathroom watching us, I froze mid stride and looked back over my shoulder. I couldn't read her expression at first, there was a mix of disgust, horror, betrayal, and anger all over her. I would like to say that I felt bad, embarrassed even for her seeing this, but that would have been a lie; thanks alcohol you slimy bastard.

"What is the meaning of this?!" She shrieks at me, us.

I don't know what compelled me to do what I did next, but I did it anyways. I looked at her for a second then down at myself, still balls deep within Kai, then at Kai himself who looked ready to kill her at any second and back to her. Then, I shrugged my shoulders.

"I dunno." I managed in a slur of words.

"What do you mean, you don't know?!" Her face is pure red, she looks like the color of Tala's hair.

I did a double take again, still not understanding what her problem was. I love Kai, he loves me and this is what people do when they love each other right? I shrug again, a sloppy grin over my lips; once again, fuck you alcohol! She's fuming now, I swear there was steam coming out of her ears on the side of her head. She stomps over to us and I wince for a second, but I still don't dare pull out of Kai. Palm out in full force she smacks me across the face, my head would have hit the wall beside me if I hadn't braced for it. Before either of us know what's happened, she storms out of the room and slams the bathroom door behind us.

We're left in complete and utter awkward silence for a long time, I still haven't moved but my cheek is burning now where she slapped me. I'd like to say that I deserved it, I would like to say that I've just majorly screwed up everything. Yet, when I get a gentle tug on my hair I happen to look back down at my lover, he gives me a gentle smile and runs his thumb over where she slapped me. I could feel tears on the corners of my eyes but I push them back, giving him a gentle kiss and hold our lips together until I send us over the edge.

I find myself wrapped in his arms protectively, I don't think he cares what's just happened. We could hear Mariah through the bathroom on the phone crying for the rest of the night, I made out a few of her words while she went on her tirade. My stomach would have dropped at the sound of her saying she was flying back home first thing in the morning, but the alcohol in my system just made me wish her a happy flight.

When I woke up that morning and everything from the night before came flooding back into my mind. I swallowed hard, I was a dead man and the look on Kai's face told me he was thinking the same thing.

What have I done?!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: This is a long chapter, split between Ray and Kai's POV's. I dunno if others will follow this lead, but for right now this one does.**

 **I'll be honest, I pulled half of this chapter out of my ass. But I liked the twist that came into my head and rolled with it, hopefully ya'll like it as well.**

 **[] Represent speaking Russian**

 **Warnings: Language, mild violence.**

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

"JUST SAY IT! TELL ME YOU DON'T LOVE ME, JUST SAY IT!"

"Why would I lie to you?" He says, a look of hurt and confusion in his eyes that are starring right back into mine; my soul.

"Tell me I'm ugly, tell me I'm fat! Tell me everything was a lie, you were just using me! Tell me something other than that you love me!" I hit him in the chest again, though this time it's harder than our first night together. I don't want to hurt him, I just want him to hit me back.

"I'm not going to lie to you." He just stands there as my fists beat into his chest, I've hit his face and even kicked him and he just stood there. HIT ME BACK DAMMIT!

Tears are running down my face, I've screwed up my life; everything. If he hit me maybe it would wake me up from this nightmare, but no. When I did wake up, sore and confused, without a wife or daughter in the next room, memories of the night before graced me with their presence. The things we did, the things we said, the things _she_ saw. Everything I said back to her, as if it was no big deal, everything was in my head and my inner voice was SCREAMING at me to fix it. I needed him to tell me he hated me, that he didn't love. Tell me something Kai!

"You have to, you have to lie to me. I don't care, just tell me you don't love me so I can go." My arms are getting weak from hitting him too many times, my last few swings barely touched him and I rest them on his chest. I'm exhausted, I've been screaming at him for a good hour and no one has come up to see what the fuss is all about.

"I'm not going to, Ray." He sounds exhausted, but he's done nothing but stand there and let me hit him. I feel awful for doing it to him, but I've been in such a blind rage I couldn't help it.

"You have to, if you don't I'll come back to you. I can't do that, I have to make this right. I have to go save Rin before they kill her, before they come after you and me. I can't stay here knowing you still love me, because I will come back to you." He pulls me closer, it's the first motion he's made since getting up and dressing.

I rest my head on his chest, my tears are soaking into his shirt and he doesn't care. I grip his shoulders tighter and shudder out a sob, I'm pathetic, how could he love me like this? After I gave him a bruised jaw?

"I'm not going to lie to you Ray. I'm going to protect you, that's what I said I would do. Let them come, let them try. We'll get Rin back before she's harmed." His words are like a hot iron in my ears, I can't believe him, I _don't wan_ t to believe him. I have to get away and never see him again, even though every fiber of my being is screaming at me to stay.

"I have to go…" I pull away numbly, after standing against him for a few good minutes.

I don't even look him in the eyes as I go to my old room, I gather my things and start to head out. He's standing in the doorway, I didn't even hear him come in. Why is he doing this to me?! I have to get home, Rin is in danger because of me!

"Kai… Move." I will my voice to sound demanding, even though it's hoarse and dry from screaming.

"No." He crosses his arms over his chest, I can tell he's stiffened his muscles in case I go to attack him.

"Move." I hiss out, clutching my bag's straps tighter over my shoulder.

"Stay." He pleads, and I can hear his tone wavering.

"I can't." I'm about to break down again, yet I will the tears to stay hidden and silent.

"Please, we'll figure this out. She's not going to let them harm Rin, not without you there." He says it like he's right, but the thing is, we don't know what's going to happen.

"Kai…" I take a step, not as threatening as I had hoped. "Move." I command again in a hiss, my pupils slit and I bare my fangs; I don't want to do this.

"Calm down, lets figure this out. If you want I'll send Bryan after them, they won't even be in China yet." I take in his words and mull them over, something within me is telling me to agree to this but I know it's worthless.

"No. You need him here for today."

"I need _you_ here!" His voice raises, something he has yet to do since we woke up and it sent a cold shiver down my spine. "I need you here so I can protect you here, Bryan will be fine going after Rin. He'll bring them both back, we'll figure this out."

I'm too tired to fight back, I had used up everything I could into beating on him and screaming at him. I let my bag slip off my shoulders, it makes an audible noise as it hits the floor. I put my face in my hands and sob, my body is weak and tired. I don't know what's gotten into me, it wasn't supposed to be like this. I can only nod at his offer, within a second of my nod he shouts down the hall for Bryan and in another second Bryan is standing there.

They exchange a few words before I hear Bryan run out of the room, I didn't bother to pull my face out of the palms of my hands. They're pooling with tears, and I don't care. I feel slightly elated, but another part of me is telling me that the worst is yet to come.

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

It took longer than I expected, but I was finally able to calm him down. Nobody dared ask us what was going on, though they did give us concerned looks and I know they wanted to ask. My glare can only do so much in keeping them at bay, I just didn't think Max was stupid enough to be the first to approach.

"What the hell is going on?" He asks, trying to look like he actually gives a damn.

"Mariah took off with Rin." I offer, hoping the tone of my voice stops him before he opens his stupid mouth again.

"Why?" He blinks in confusion, he wasn't here to hear Ray screaming at me earlier.

"It's none of your fucking business!" I yell as loud as I can, Ray looks ready to pass out, his face is pale and he might puke again.

Tyson and the others are huddling around in the kitchen while I have Ray under my arm on the couch, trying to keep him from passing out. The kids were ordered outside; they didn't need to see this. Max is standing directly in front of us, hands on hips as if he's some kind of authoritative figure. Tala took Bryan, to get him on the quickest flight to China.

"But." He starts and Ray cuts him off.

"Max." He manages through a shaky breath, yet his words are spoken with a venom I've never heard before. "Enough, just stop." He warns, his pupils have yet to dilate back to normal and he chances a glare up at our blonde giant.

"Alright. I tried." He holds his hands up defensively and walks back to the kitchen where the others are.

I can hear their whispers, so I know full well Ray can. He tenses under my arm and growls under his breath, this wasn't what either of us wanted, least now of all times. Though I don't dare let go, I'm not letting ten years of not having him just dissolve for nothing if I can't bring him back with me. These past days have meant too much to me to just let him go. I can't and I won't; not again.

"Kai… We have to get to the tournament." Tyson is apprehensive in his words, and I can understand why.

An anger swells in me, I can't take Ray with me like this and I can't let them all leave. They have no idea what's in store for them, I don't even know, but I can't risk letting them go. I need Tala back before we go anywhere.

"Kai?" Tyson's voice is shaking, and I can understand why because he actually heard us last night, and this morning. God this is fucking perfect, way to go Kai Hiwatari you fucking bastard.

"Not yet." My voice is barely a whisper, I'm afraid to raise it with Ray so close. I don't need his nails clawing my face, there's a bruise on my jaw but it will heal in time; he's got a nasty right hook.

"I understand if you can't let Goh come with us, but we have to get."-

-"I said not yet Tyson!" I cut off his words, my voice shakes the house and I've never seen them look so terrified.

Kenny makes some squeak and cowers behind the counter, Tyson's mouth hangs open without being able to form some kind of come back. Hilary gasps rather audibly, Daichi looks like Tyson and is cowering behind him. Ray stiffens under my arm again, while Max is the only one who narrows his eyes at me. You maybe seven feet tall, but I can still knock you flat on your ass Maxie. I narrow my eyes back at him, daring him to say or do something.

"You should tell them…" Ray whispers to me, his voice is dry and hoarse from all the crying.

"No, I just need Tala to get back." I coax, he's been wound up so tight I can't afford him to throw himself back into hysterics.

"I'm so sorry…" He bites his bottom lip, going back to hiding his face in his hands.

"It's not your fault." I'm not lying, this is _my_ fault.

I should have never come back here, I should have fought to keep my fake marriage. I should have pushed all my feelings aside, all the remaining hopes and dreams I've ever had. It wasn't worth this, nothing would have been worth it if he can't pull his head out of his ass.

"It is… It's my fault. I'm so sorry." His shoulders shake again as he starts to sob again, all I can do is squeeze his shoulder to reassure him.

I'm at a loss for words for once, I don't know what to tell him or what to do but just sit here. His color is slowly coming back, but I know that any little thing can throw him back over the edge.

We sit in silence; the others haven't left the mock safety of the kitchen. I make sure they stay there by giving them side glances, daring one of them to cross that invisible line. Max looks like he's gotten the idea, he won't even look our way now. Hilary's gone to washing dishes, that I'm sure were washed yesterday. Kenny is busy on his laptop, but what else is new? Daichi is over his shoulder, talking in a hush whisper to him. Tyson looks confused, hurt, for once he doesn't have a soppy speech to give us. I've never seen him more at a loss for words than I have now, and I couldn't be more grateful for that; he never knew when to keep his fat mouth shut before.

It was nearing the time for the tournament to start and Tala had yet to come back, it was only a half hour drive to the airport, so what the hell was taking him so damn long? Some movement in the kitchen catches my attention and I chance a glance over my shoulder. Max is starting to come this way and something in me snaps, I release my hold on Ray's shoulder as I stand and pull my gun from my hip. The air in the house leaves us, all eyes have gone wide and Ray makes a soft sob below me. My eyes were trained on Max the entire time, gun pointing directly at him through the space of the half wall that bordered the living room and kitchen. So, when the HELL did he pull out his own gun, and when did he gain balls of steel to point it at ME?!

"Drop it Kai." His voice is tense and commanding, too bad I don't take kindly to threats. I click back the hammer, and gasps escapes our friends. "I mean it!" He yells, clicking back his own hammer which sends more gasps into the air.

By now I can feel Ray's eyes staring at my back, but I don't dare look at him. My eyes are dead set on Max's trigger finger, and it's itching to pull it. I know I'm a better shot; I _have_ to be. Yet, there's a nagging in the back of my mind that's telling me to say something.

"What the hell is this?" I ask, my voice doesn't waver or show the concern I have at this awkward predicament.

"Put it down, and I'll tell you." His voice mirrors mine, and he narrows his eyes at me.

"No, now tell me." I take a step forward, if he shoots he could miss and hit Ray.

"Kai!" He shouts, telling me to stop or he will shoot me. It doesn't faze me, I've been threatened with worse, and I take another step.

"Enough! Think of the children outside!" Hilary screams from her spot at the sink, her eyes are wide and tears are spilling down her cheeks. I can barely see her past Max's shoulders, and see Tyson trying to console his wife.

Max doesn't lower his gun but he does let out a breath of air, I release my own breath but keep my gun trained on him and him alone. That's when the door to the house opened and Max's attention turned to the newcomer, the air turning colder told me who it was and I knew from the audible click Tala pulled out his own gun. It was two against one, and Max looked more confused than before. He bounced back from Tala to me, unsure of which one would fire first, little did he know that Tala would only fire if I told him to, or if Max shot me first.

"Both of you, drop it now! If either of you shoot me, you'll be put in jail. I'm a private investigator. Now drop them!" His voice is louder than I've ever heard it, and for a minute I run his words through my head. Since when? He said he worked at his dad's old shop.

Out of my peripheral view I can see Tala come up behind the couch Ray is still sitting on, his gun still at the ready and he chances a side glance at me with a questioning look. I simply nod to him and he lowers his gun, stuffing it back into the holster on his back and under his shirt. I lower my own, just slightly but keep it in my hands as I switch the safety on.

"Go on." I command, but only out of mock curiosity.

"I was hired by Mr. Dickinson five years ago, I work for him and the BBA and their more personal affairs. I know Ray knows, but you've not told the others and they deserve to know. About Voltaire." He pauses, and the other's look to me for the answers I don't want to give them, even Tala looks over at me and I know he's more shocked than what he's leading on.

"What about him?" I try to keep myself from stiffening.

"When you left, ten years ago. You entered a contract marriage, devised by Voltaire, right?" I can see him smirk, and I can feel myself frown at his words. Since when the fuck did he know this shit?!

"If you don't believe me, I can even tell you your ex's name. Since you've been keen on not telling anyone, I can tell you the time and date she went into labor and when Goh was born. I can tell them everything you've failed to, unless you want to do it now." He still hasn't lowered his gun, but I can see he's loosened his grip on it.

"How?" My mind is running a mile a minute, I'm surprised I can even speak at this point. Part of me wants to believe him, the other half wants me to shoot him through his skull.

"I told you, I'm a private investigator. It's my job, and my job was to find your whereabouts and what exactly was going on during these past ten years. Tell me Kai, do you know why Goh gets night terrors?" He's never here when Goh is asleep, so how would he know? What he's saying, means he does know everything. I can only simply nod, but that isn't enough for him so he continues.

"It started happening four years ago, that would have made him about four years old. Right?" I nod again, my own grip on my gun loosening as he speaks. I don't need to hear this, I know why my own son has night terrors, but he's not saying it for my benefit, he's saying it for the others.

"Black Dranzer." He says and everyone's eyes fall to me again. I nod again.

"But, you destroyed it!" Tyson pops into the conversation, and I nod again. What the hell is going on?!

"Voltaire made a new one, a better one and he gave it to Goh. Stole him from under your nose in the middle of the night, tried to get him to use Black Dranzer 2 and it nearly killed him. You were lucky enough to find him in time, and you got him to the hospital. If not, he wouldn't be here. About on the money, right?" I nod again, that memory is etched into my brain, how could I forget it?

"Let's bring the others to speed, since you seem to believe me now." I don't want to, but what else can I do?

"Ten years ago, not on this exact day. It was your birthday and you left us, Voltaire had contacted you with an arranged marriage. His contract said that if you married, he wouldn't kill us. So, you did what he asked of you in order to protect us. You left without a word, without a trace. Trust me, it was hard to find you but I did. Mr. Dickinson persisted that you needed help, and that's why he hired me. I found you, should I give your address to prove it?" I shake my head this time, unable to look at any of them.

"So, you married and Goh was born two years later. Four years after that Voltaire overstepped and almost cost Goh his life, you started embezzling money from your ex but it wasn't until last month did your divorce go through. I'm honestly happy to see that you got out of it, so congrats." His last words were nothing but sarcasm and I will myself not to shoot him, even though it's the only thing I want to do. I don't need a damn recap of my life!

"After your divorce, you killed Boris…. So, you thought." My head shoots up and my eyes meet his, I even heard Tala shuffle across the room to my right.

"What?" Tala manages through a strangled breath.

"The Boris you killed, was merely a clone. The real one, he's out there with Voltaire. I've been here, so I don't know exactly where they are now, but last I heard he was in China. Correct?" He looks to Tala now, how did he know?! Tala nods, a gulping sound coming from his throat as he swallows hard.

"Do you know why they were in China?" He turns to me and I shake my head no, we never could figure out why Voltaire was in China.

"He went there to kill Ray. Luckily Ray was coming here, just before they got there I'm assuming. Even I can't find Ray's village, so I knew they wouldn't be able to even if they wanted to. Now, with you here he'll be coming here. That's why you have guns, that's why you took Ray out to train with them yesterday. That's why Mariah and Rin are gone, because you two love each other. You can stop me if I get something wrong." A coy smirk plays on his lips, and I swear I felt my hand raise slightly.

"How, how do you know any of this?" I managed to speak, after finding my voice and I'm surprised myself it's not shaking as badly as my nerves. This has never happened to me, not when it came to one of my ex-teammates; especially not Max.

"I bugged the house. I've bugged all your phones, laptops. Everything you can think of, it's been bugged. I know all, it's part of my job. I did this, Kai. Because I care about you, we all did. We were all lost after you left, I only took this job because Dickinson asked me too. Otherwise, I wouldn't have. Please understand where I'm coming from, I'm not the bad guy, I'm here to help you guys. Because you _will_ need it." I want to laugh in his face, I don't need his help. Yet, I feel like we do.

"Max…" Ray's voice is barely a whisper and I whirl on my heels to see him stand behind me. His color has returned to his face, but his pupils are still slits and he looks angry. "Why, why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Wasn't in the job description. Sorry Ray, but this was done for everyone's own good. The reason there's hardly any security for this tournament, is because we _want_ Voltaire and Boris, the real one, to show up. I'm sure you two know this already." He motions his head towards Tala and Me before continuing, his gun is still drawn and trained at me, since I'm still holding mine.

"He's not just after Goh, he's after all your children. Sending Bryan off to fetch Mariah and Rin has been their saving grace, no doubt Voltaire would have someone in China waiting for them." Max finishes.

"But, why would he want our kids?" Hilary speaks up, sporting the look of a concerned mother and I feel for her.

"He's trying to take over the world again." I speak up, trying to still my shaking limbs. "He wants our kids, as a last mockery to us. He was going to kill you all, if I didn't do what I did. I couldn't let him… But it didn't matter what I did, I couldn't stop his twisted mind in doing what he wanted all along. I've known of his plan since Rin was born, since she was the last of our children to be born. His plan started to set into motion, we tried to stop him countless times… It never worked." I have to bite my lip hard, I don't know why this is so damn hard to do but their mixed expressions are hurting me.

"How… How did you know when Rin was born?" Ray places a hand on my shoulder, since I've turned my back to him again.

"I was watching you… All of you, though I didn't know about Max's double life." I say through gritted teeth, if one thing is keeping me enraged, it's that fact about Max.

"He's made other dark, stronger bit-beasts that resemble all of yours." Tala's voice makes everyone snap their attention to him. "There's a Black Dragoon, Black Driger, Black Draciel. With these four bit-beasts, he's set for world domination. All he'd need is your children, makes clones of them and kill the real ones in order to do it."

Hilary cups her hands to her mouth to keep her sobs not as loud as they would have been, tears are rolling down her face. Ray's hand drops from my shoulder and I can hear him curse under his breath, Tyson looks enraged and he's holding onto Hilary's shoulders tighter.

"Why didn't you tell us this?!" Tyson yells.

"Because there was nothing any of you could have done." Tala says, since my voice once again betrays me and has left.

"Oh yeah, because you've all done such a wonderful job so far." Tyson retorts.

"Watch it!" Tala barks and steps closer, only stopping as Max trains his gun at him now.

"We did what we could, Tyson. It's not like we could have just gone up to him and shot him, as much as we wanted to. Even if we did, how would we have known if it was the real one? Apparently we didn't get the real Boris now, so what good would it have done?" Tala asks, and I can see him tighten his fists at his side.

Tyson seems to mull this over for a minute, the only sound is Hilary's sobs and now I want to shoot her, just to shut her up. Everything is out now, everything I've done has been a waste and fate has once again kicked me square in the balls; if I've said it once before I've said it a thousand times, FUCK YOU TOO FATE!

"What… What do we do then?" Tyson seems to have come out of his stupor, looking to Max then to me and Tala last.

"We go to the tournament, as planned. We take down Voltaire and the real Boris, before they can get us. Bryan should be there with Mariah and Rin by now, right?" Max asks, giving another coy smirk to Tala, to which Tala stiffens again.

"How would you know?" Ray steps to stand beside me.

"Bugs Ray, do try to keep up." Max glances at him, and the look and the way he just spoke makes my arm twitch and I pull my gun up at Max again. His follows suit, pointing it at me. "Really Kai?" He asks with an exasperated sigh.

"Talk to him like that again, and I will blow a hole through your head." I threaten, and I am dead serious.

"My apologies, but we should really be going now. Only have twelve minutes for the first match." He pulls his gun back, hiding it on his person somewhere, the half wall blocking my view from where he put it.

Reluctantly I put my own gun back, hiding it under my jacket and stiffen. Tala comes to stand in front of me, blocking the others behind him from my view.

["What the fuck is going on?!"] He asks, speaking Russian to me.

["I don't know."] I respond, staying in our native tongue.

["Can we trust him?"] I chance a look past his shoulder at Max, who is still sporting a coy smirk.

["What choice do we have?"] I shrug my shoulders, really what else could we do now?

["Bryan isn't going to like this…"] He mumbles, shaking his head. Your boyfriend is the least of my concerns right now Tala.

["Let's just go, before I do shoot his brains out."] I turn to Ray, who won't look at me now. Dammit!

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

I'm at a loss for words, I feel numb and I can't move even though everyone else is starting for the door, as if nothing happened. Max is wearing his normal smile and cheery expression, there's something gleaming in his eyes as he talks to Tyson like he just wasn't holding a gun in his hands. Tala and Kai have stayed back, talking in Russian so I have no idea what they are saying. After Hilary composed herself, she had gone and gotten the boys from out back and ushered them through the house so fast they looked more confused than anything. Daichi and Kenny had shot out of the house as if their lives depended on it, and I don't blame them, I would have too if I could get my damn legs to move!

"Ray." That's my name, even though I wish it was Bob or something else and I wasn't me right now.

"Ray." I surprisingly smack the hand that's touched my shoulder, my legs might not be able to move but at least my upper half is cooperative for now.

"I'm sorry." I glare, my pupils might be stuck in slits and it fucking hurts. I've had them like this for so long, I heard it rumored it could happen, them getting stuck if you keep them like this for too long, but now I don't give a damn if it's true.

"Don't touch me." I growl and Kai lets his arm fall to his side.

He looks so lost, I've never seen him this way before. All the years I've known him, he has never looked like this before. I'd say it hurts to see him like this, but I'm too damn pissed to care right now. I can't say I don't love him anymore, I did love him through the ten years I didn't even see him, but right now I want nothing to do with him. He knew, he knew more than he let on and he didn't tell me! I hope that bruise on his jaw is permanent, I hope that he knows how angry I am at him. My inner voice is telling me not to be, telling me it wasn't completely his fault, that it's Voltaire's but I don't listen to it.

Before he can say anything I leave him and Tala in the living room, slamming the door to the house behind me. Once outside I finally breathe more steadily, trying to make the outside air fill my lungs and wash away this pain I feel. I feel everything, from betrayal to confusion, from that to relief and back to fear. I don't know what to expect once we reach the BBA stadium, I was right. We were all just being used as bait, and even Max and Dickinson were in on it. Damn them all!

I just noticed that Hilary's van is gone, all that's left is the black Mercedes and Bryan's rental Jeep sitting out on the side of the road. Great, either ride with Bryan's crazy Russian, or _my_ crazy Russian. Perfect. I can hear them coming out of the house, and neither bothers to look at me as they both part for their respective vehicles.

Kai glances over the hood of the Mercedes, eyes almost pleading me to follow him. I turn away and head for the Jeep, I can hear him sigh but he doesn't say anything as I climb into the passenger seat next to Tala whose eyes are bugging out of his head now. Too bad there isn't a door for me to slam shut, so I settle for just crossing my arms over my chest and starring pointedly at the dash board. Tala starts the Jeep up, and hesitates for a second before his hand is in front of me holding the gun I had been given to practice with.

"Here." He puts it in my open hands, and that's all he says before following the Mercedes down the road.

For some reason the gun feels heavier than it did the first time I held it, realization is settling into the pit of my stomach. I may have to kill someone today, and I feel a new emotion shove it's way in the sea of others; panic.

* * *

 **So yeah, all but the first half from Ray's POV to Kai's where Max is a gun wielding private investigator was all on the fly. I don't know where it came from, but I liked the idea so much I put it in. Let me know what you think, it means the world to me when I get reviews.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note:**

 **Oh god, when was the last time I updated this? A week? That's a record for me and I apologize. Nothing was coming to me, and I hope that what did come out and create this mess is worth it all.**

 **Reviews are always welcomed, it lets me know if I'm actually doing something right. For those that have reviewed and showed your support along the ride, thank you from the bottom of my heart.**

 **Once again, this chapter is split between POV'S, since it took me a while to figure out what to do with it.**

 **Once again, this chapter was written with a son on repeat as it helped fueled my writing. Maybe Tomorrow is a Better Day, by Poets of the Fall (I've fallen in love with this man's voice.) I recommend checking it out.**

 **Warning:**

 **Language, Blood, Violence, all that good stuff.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

I don't think I could have gotten to the stadium any faster than I did, Tala caught on and kept on my ass the entire time. Doing more than the recommended speed limit, swerving in and out of the traffic; made me wonder how Ray was reacting to it all since Tala cut in front of a garbage truck a bit too close. Oh well, he should have ridden with me. I'm not speeding to get there for the sake of the tournament, no, I am pissed about everything and then for him to just shrug me off, after everything, has pissed me right off.

I don't know what I'm going to do about Max right now, but my hand is itching to punch that giant and beat him into next week. Then let's not forget that old man, not Voltaire, Dickenson. That son of a bitch has it coming too, if anything more so than Max. I know I have to focus on other things, more important things. One, Voltaire and Boris possibly being at the tournament and keeping everyone safe. Two, Mariah being there. I don't know how she'll react seeing us, and I don't know how I'll react seeing her or Ray for that matter. But damn, it's his fault anyways for doing what he did last night.

Pulling into the parking lot I can see the others gathered around the front of the stadium doors, Mariah is there within the group but she's not conversing with the others. Bryan is towering over her, Rin holding onto her mother's dress for dear life. Tala parks in the stall beside me, and I chance a glance at Ray who still won't look at me. I can't be bothered right now with him though, I have to get my mind set on what's to come.

We approach the others and Mariah glares at me, then turns to her husband who can't look at her. We all jumped when she smacked him across the face again, her pupil's slits as she snarls at him.

"I hope you're fucking happy you filthy being! I can't believe I ever loved you!" If she thought her words were going to hurt him, or change how he felt, she was dead wrong.

He straightens himself and walks past her, everyone gives each other questioning looks before going in after him. My hand itches for my gun on my side as Mariah looks at me, I give her a look and dare her to smack me. It'd be the last thing ever she did, and I wouldn't lose any sleep for shooting her through that thick head of hers. She's smarter than she looks as she decides to leave, dragging Rin behind her.

Even though tensions were high, our group sat together in one row. The Grangers and Max shouting down at each of the kids as they came up to blade, even Rin was up there to blade, and she did better than I thought she would; given the circumstances between her parents. Daichi gave us play by play of the matches, putting on a front that would have fooled me if I didn't know what was to come next. Ray was all the way on the other end of the row, Tyson had sat on his right with Hilary then Mariah and Max, then myself with Tala and Bryan at the end.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you all who I was when you got here." Max whispers to me, and I simply nod. Damn right you should have.

"You said security is lowered for this, does that mean you'll know when they get here?" I whisper back, even though the conversation is casual, in its own way, my voice is dark.

"Yes, I'll know the second they're here and then you'll know." He explains to me, and then leans away to cheer as Goh comes up to blade. "Should be soon enough." He adds, and I nod.

Turing to watch my son, pride swells within my chest. The match doesn't last long, the poor sap who had to blade my son didn't stand a chance. Goh stands proud over the dish, looking much like I did when I was his age. I can feel Tala stiffen beside me, something must have gone off in that cyber head of his.

"Now?" I ask, and he nods his head, before I had a chance to blink the lights in the stadium go out.

The other people in the stadium scream, the emergency flood lights come on but it's hardly enough to light the massive building. My heart is beating faster, I can still make out Goh's silhouette down there. Rin and Makoto are sitting on the bench on the floor, their heads jerking to look one way then to the next.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please." Dickenson's voice comes over the loud speakers. "If you all could please, in an orderly fashion, exit the building. We seem to be having troubles with our power right now, once it's settled we'll resume the tournament." He sounds calm enough, even though he knows the severity of this.

Our group doesn't move, must have been Max's plan, no doubt he would have told them what to do when shit hit the fan. Following their lead my two stay, and so do I, but I don't look away from where Goh is. Daichi had come down from his pier that sat over the beydish and is with the kids now, trying to keep Rin and Makoto from freaking out more than what they already are. People shuffle and grumble as they usher out, leaving us in the now empty stadium.

Tala stiffens again, and I chance a look at him, his eyes glance my way then he nods behind me; it's time.

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

I can see why now the Russian's wanted my help, the stadium was too dark for any of them to see in. The kids were clear as day in my eyes, huddled around Daichi. I went to move from my seat the second the lights had gone out, but Tyson's hand had clamped down on my arm and stopped me. I went to ask him why he had stopped me, but he simply shook his head no at me and I sat back down. Why weren't we going down there, what were we waiting for?

It didn't take long for my questions to be answered, on the screen across from us Voltaire's face appeared. The man looked near death, it was surprising he was still alive considering his age. He looked at us and I shuddered, just like the first time I had laid eyes on him when I was a teenager.

"You've been quite troublesome grandson, I'm not very pleased with you right now." He sneers, and I can't see Kai's reaction from where I'm sitting, the other's heads are blocking my view.

"I am happy to see you've gathered everyone here for me, it makes things that much easier when I need to kill you all. Don't look at me like that, you brought this on yourself Kai." I don't know how he knows what Kai looks like, I can only guess he can see us from where the slimy bastard is hiding.

The kids cling tighter to Daichi, and it looks like he's the one who should be clinging onto them. You're the adult here man, so adult up for heaven's sake.

"Who should it be first, hm? Oh, I know. How about your little _pet_? He is the reason for all of this in the first place, yes… He'll do." He eyes shift on the screen and now they're directed at me, I still don't know where he is, but I narrow my eyes at him. Come at me bitch!

"Yes, he shall do fine." With that the screen goes black and the flood lights go off, even through the pitch-black darkness, I can still make out the silhouettes of the kids down there.

A gun shot rings out and we all jump to our feet, Rin screams, and Makoto's silhouette is snatched up by a larger one. Everyone jumps over the chairs in front of us, getting down there as fast as we can. Daichi's shoulder was grazed by the bullet but he's alive, though the kids are all gone. In our rush we hadn't seen where they ran off to, and now we're all panicking except for the three Russians and the private investigator. My stomach turns, we played right into Voltaire's hands, they allowed this to happen. Anger swells in me and I make out Kai's silhouette in the darkness and lung at him, my fist catches the side of his face once and I'm pulled away by Bryan.

"This is your fault! Why did we have to do it this way?!" I scream, struggling against Bryan.

"Now's not the time Ray, we have to go after them." Max orders and Bryan releases me as I stopped struggling.

Another gun shot rings out, coming down the corridor behind us. It sounded like a call for us to follow it; begging us to follow it. The others in this darkness wouldn't be able to handle going down there, the darkness in the corridor was darker than where we were standing. Voltaire wanted me, he knew I'd be the only one to go in there and still see something. Fine, if he wanted me so badly, he could fucking have me.

"Ray, hold on." Max calls after me, but I don't stop walking away.

They don't bother coming after me as I bolt down towards the corridor, not even 10 steps away from them I know they can't even see me anymore. I pick up the sounds of footsteps down the corridor, there's two of them and they're loud; adults. I don't hear the sounds of the children; the darkness is blinding but I can make out the basic outlines of what's around me. Turning a corner, I stop, the two men are at the end of the hall and I don't see the kids with them. Suddenly the lights go back on and I'm facing two versions of Boris, guns at the ready.

When the lights had come back on it took me a minute for my vision to adjust, just as it had they fired their guns at me. I dodged back behind the corner I had come around, letting them fire at the open space I had left. Drawing the gun Tala had given me, I still my shaking hands and hold its handle tight. Their gun fire stops and that's when I made my move, coming back around the corner swiftly, gun drawn up and the safety off, I fire.

One bullet hit's the Boris on the right, knocking him to his knees. The other Boris fires back at me and I roll back around the wall behind me, my breathing is erratic and I'm shaking. I just shot someone, clone or not. I could have killed him, but I can't think of that now. Our children's lives are on the line, our lives are on the line.

Over the rain of gun fire, I can pick up the sounds of feet coming down the corridor. Even in their rush I can pick up who it is before he even comes into view, though I don't give him a look before I roll back around the corner of the wall.

I shoot again, barely noticing the hand on my shoulder and his gun lifted beside me. We unload our clips at the two Boris's, one bullet would have done it, but I got carried away in my panic and anger. I lower my gun, the two laid dead across the hall from us. Blood is pooling around them and my stomach ties into a knot.

Kai squeezes my shoulder, drawing my attention away from the clones for a second. He doesn't look fazed by killing them; it doesn't bother him. I know I shouldn't let it bother me; but it does. I go to say something to him when the lights go out again, his hand doesn't leave my shoulder.

"Lead the way." He commands, though his voice is soft. It's not trembling with the fear mine would have if I dared to speak.

Using me as his guide we rush down the corridor, jumping over the dead bodies in our wake. I want to know what's happening with the others, I want to know why we just all sat there and had to do it this way, but I can't voice my thoughts. I'm scared shitless, more so when we enter a well-lit room.

My heart drops as we enter, in the arm chair across from us sits Voltaire, another Boris to his right. They have smug looks on their faces and my pupils slit without my willing them too, and I bare my fangs at them. I don't see the kids, nor can I smell their presence here. I want to raise my arm and shoot them, but I can't lift my arm. I'm frozen stiff as they just stare at us, my eyes catching the glint of metal under the desk, and my knees feel weak as I stare back at them.

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

SHIT! He's frozen up, I can feel his trembling under my hand on his shoulder and when his body clamped up. This isn't good, I need him to move; I NEED TO MOVE! Pushing him behind me I step between him and the two men, they just smirk at my efforts. Though I can see the distaste in Voltaire's eyes, suck my dick you old homophobic fucker!

"This won't do, you're supposed to be dead by now." Boris shakes his head. Well excuse me princess, that wasn't on my list of things to do today.

"Beggars can't be choosers I suppose." He continues, and a door opens to our left.

Another Boris steps out with Mariah and Rin in his grasp, forcing them through the doors. How many clones does this old man have of himself? Mariah has been gagged by a cloth that's stuffed in her mouth and her hands are tied behind her back. Rin looks at her father with terrified eyes, she's shaking and crying and the father in me wants to console her, but I don't dare move. The second Boris shoves them into the room, gun pointed to the back of Mariah's head and in my head the little me-devil is shouting for him to shoot.

"Who should it be first? Hm?" The second Boris sneers, motioning his gun from Mariah to Rin.

Ray makes some kind of noise under his breath, and I don't dare make a move when that gun is trained at Rin. They need her to control Black Driger, so I know they won't kill her; yet. If I move though, that may cause Ray to move and get himself killed.

"Or would you like to do the honors Kai?" Voltaire asks, I had almost forgotten he was there. Little me-devil is shouting yes at his question, but I just stare back at him.

"It would get rid of your other obstacle, with no wife and child you two would be allowed to live your days out in your perverted life style." My eyes narrow harder at him, what the hell is he playing at? The second Mariah and Rin drop dead, we'll be joining them, so why bother saying that to me other than to piss me off more?

"We already have the girls DNA; the original is no longer any use to us." He explains as if he just read my mind, and only one person can do that and that's Tala. Unless, he too got the cyber enhancements he had given us.

He just smirks, and it confirms my thoughts. Now I can't call for Tala and Bryan. Yes, I had the enhancement too years ago, before I left the Abbey the second time. With Voltaire in my head I can't call for them, he'd hear it and then we'd be dead. The silence is deafening, and the tension is choking me, I don't know what to do and I feel utterly helpless and useless for once. I hate this feeling, the man I love is in danger again and it's my fault. Our friends and families are somewhere lost in this maze of a stadium, and my only two life lines I can't reach for.

"Don't, please… Just take me." Ray's voice breaks, and he inches up beside me, dropping his gun to the floor.

"Please, if you have Rin's DNA already you don't need to kill them." He pleads, and his entire body is shaking, his voice is cracking.

Voltaire and the two Boris's look at each other and they think it over, I can't link to him though, so I don't know what they're thinking. Praying that Tala links with me soon, I can't stand this tension further and I can't move.

"Why should we?" The first Boris asks, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm a dead man anyways, so please, let them go."

A few uncomfortable seconds of silence pass over us, I can see the terror in Mariah's eyes as her husband is giving his life up for hers and their daughter. If I move they'll kill us all, having noticed the guns hidden and pointed at us since we've been here from under the desk. Rin's in a full-blown fit of tears, but she doesn't say anything.

"I think we have a deal, we could use you." The first Boris says and motions for Ray to come towards him.

As he starts I reach out, not meaning to, and grab his hand. He stops and gives me a sad look, fear is evident in his eyes and I'm trying to read his mind. He's telling me to let him go, that he'll be fine, he wants me to take care of Rin and keep my promise at keeping her safe. He can't read my mind, but I tell him I will and that I love him. If I move further the gun Voltaire pulled the hammer back on will shoot me, so I release his hand. Mariah and Rin are pushed towards me as the second Boris clamps a hand down on Ray's shoulder.

"Your time will come soon enough grandson, right now we have what we came for." Voltaire states, reading my mind again. "For now, I'll let you all go. Consider yourselves lucky." He stands, and shows me the full view of his gun he's been holding.

Boris 1 reveals his as well, even though I knew they were there all along. They keep them on us as more clones come in with their own guns drawn, leaving the room with Ray. The door shuts, and Mariah falls to her knees, I stand there like the bastard I am, and Rin grabs hold of my leg.

{Tala… Tala they took him, they have Ray… Tala where are you?!}

{Kai, you blocked me out! Where the hell are you? Tyson's been shot, he's bleeding out I need you to get here now!}

I don't know if it was the panic in his voice that got me moving, or if it was because I needed to be by him to feel some sort of comfort, but I moved. Pulling the cloth from Mariah face and unbinding her hands.

"We have to go, now!" I bark even though my voice is hoarse and shaking she nods to me and they follow me.

{Where are you Tala?}

{South wing corridor. I think they're leaving now, dammit Kai there were too many of them!}

I pick up my pace and rush towards where they are, being in the North corridor we just run straight ahead and back across the stadium. I didn't slow down, knowing the two girls behind me could keep up with them being neko-jins. We make a right, as I can feel my link to Tala strengthening and we come to a halt before them.

Hilary and Makoto are holding onto each other sobbing, Hilary trying to hide Makoto's face in her hands as she doesn't want him to see his father. Max is putting pressure on the wound in Tyson's side, Kenny and Daichi aren't here, and Tala is ripping more pieces of his shirt to use against the blood. Goh is holding onto Bryan, who has him wrapped in his arms and I can see the bruises on my sons pale skin where he had been grabbed and forced to wherever it was he had been taken.

Tyson, my greatest rival, the thorn in my side since the day I met him, the reason for most of my headaches and bad moods; my friend. Is laying on the ground, soaked in his own blood that's pooled around him. His breathing is labored but he's alive at least, Tala doesn't stop ripping his shirt and handing the pieces to Max, having to use a new piece every few minutes. The bullet must be stuck in there for it to be bleeding like that, I take a step forward pulling my own shirt off and start ripping it.

{Kenny went to get the paramedics and lead them back here. Dammit I shouldn't have let him go without me!} Tala doesn't bother to look at me while he links to me again, taking a piece of my shirt.

{What do we do now? We didn't come out on top of this as we thought…} Luckily for me, my inner voice is stronger than my outer voice.

{I don't know Kai, I don't know. Right now, we have the kids and we're all relatively safe… For now… I just… Why did they take Ray?} He glances at me for a second, and his expression softens slightly.

{I don't know, he offered himself up in exchange for Mariah and Rin… They said they could use him, I don't know what for.}

{It's alright… We'll get him back.}

He continued to help Max with Tyson until the paramedics came and whisked him away, Hilary was too stunned to move and so Max went with them to the hospital in the back of the ambulance. Bryan passed Goh to me and he clutched to me, holding my neck tight.

I didn't know what to do now, it wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to come out on top, so where did we go wrong? Why did we let it come to this, how could we have let it come to this?

I place Goh in the car, his adrenaline rush has knocked him out and he's asleep. The police came and inspected the stadium but found no trace of where Boris and Voltaire ran off to with their army of clones; and Ray. Sensing my distress again Tala comes back over to me, Hilary took Mariah Rin and Makoto back to the house already.

"What do you want to do?" Tala asks, crossing his arms over his chest. He looks imposing, but I can tell he's trying not to be.

"I want to kill them…. All of them, I don't care how long it fucking takes!"

"Alright, we'll figure this out." He says, trying to calm me down but I don't want to calm down.

"How? When? What did we do to deserve this?!" I break, and I never break. What the hell is wrong with me?!

Tala places a hand on my shoulder, normally I would have shoved him off but I'm too exhausted. My own adrenaline rush crashing down on me, tears spilling down my face. I shudder through a sob, I try but fail to control it. Everything I had worked for, everything I had done was for nothing.

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

I did what I had to, I had to protect them. I was a dead man anyways, with or without Voltaire and Boris in the picture. Even with Mariah still here in Japan, I knew she had called Lee and it wasn't going to take long before the Elders sent out their hunting squads for me; us.

I was blindfolded, legs moving on their own accord following the sounds of the two old men. The air smelt nasty and wet, I could pick up the scent of blood mixed with death. My nose curled, and my cat instincts kept telling me to run, but I couldn't move anywhere but forward. The footsteps stopped in front of me and I came to a halt. A hand came down on my back and shoved me forward, I stumbled and fell, unable to catch myself since my hands had been tied behind my back.

I could hear and feel my skull crack against the cement as I landed, the ground damp and sticky. The strong smell of blood curled into my nose, and I held back the bile that tried to come up. The blind fold was removed, revealing Boris, not sure which one, standing in front of me. An evil smirk across his face as he looked down at me, I shifted onto my knees.

"Now now _pet_ , no need to look so mad. You asked for this." He waves a finger at me like I'm some child, and I sneer, growling in my throat at him. It's happened, my eyes are permanently slit, and it burns.

He chuckles and pulls out a syringe, I can't back away fast enough and he sticks the needle into my exposed neck, drawing my blood. I wince and howl from the pain, it pinched and burns just as bad as my eyesight does.

"There there kitty, you'll be fine it was just a prick. Not like you haven't one of those before." I know from the way his voice sounds, he's not talking about a needle prick, as if my sexual orientation is that much of a problem to this old bastard. I don't give a fuck you old goat.

He caps the needle and sticks the syringe back into his coat pocket before leaving, closing the door behind him. I just sit there on my knees, hands still bound behind me. My eyes burn like acid has been poured on them, my vision is slightly blurred as I'm trying to focus but it's not working right. I don't know how to get my pupils back to the way they were, this has never happened before, and I can feel a migraine coming on. Which only flares the pain in my eyes, damn cat instincts trying to make me look more intimidating.

I don't know when I had fallen asleep, but I did and woke when a boot kicked me in the legs. I jolted up, vision coming in and out of focus, but my pupils still mirrored that of an angry cat; I guess it was fitting because I am an angry cat-person.

"Good morning kitty." Boris chuckles and he's holding a piece of paper in his hands. "I have some interesting news, thought you'd like to know." He waves the paper in his hands for a second then pulls it close to his face.

"The blood sample we took from your child and you…" He glances up at me, and I can only wonder where he's going with this. Do we share the same blood type? Tell me something I don't know you old man.

"It seems here, she is not your child." I would have laughed if my lungs weren't burning, instead I looked at him in horror.

"Don't believe me, here take a look." He drops the paper on the ground, the edges of it soaking up the water on the floor.

I glance down at it; the words are a bit fuzzy but soon come into focus. I don't understand it all, but there's two charts in the center and the numbers and lines don't match on them.

"It's a good thing we brought you here, we had our suspicions that she wasn't your child. So, we'll need to extract some more of your DNA in order for our plan to work." Boris explained, and I didn't bother moving.

Rin wasn't my child? Then whose could she have been? I felt a bit happy to be honest, Mariah was the first to step out of our vows and I don't feel the least bit guilty, maybe the Village wasn't going to come after us after all. She was with sin too, and I could turn that on her so fast. The burning in my neck brought me back out of my happy mood, a happy of a mood as it could have been at least, as Boris drew about five vials of my blood. I felt as if he should be paying me for how much he took, does he not know I need that to live? Damn vampire.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts now." He says and leaves me sitting there, the paper with my 'paternity' test soaking the rest of the water up until the charts are dulled and the words fade.

I shift as comfortably as I could, resting back against the stone wall of my 'room'. My eyes weren't burning as badly now, but my vision was still slightly more narrowed. If the room was anything but dark, the colors would have been vibrant and blinding. I drifted off again, hoping this time I'd wake up to food or something other than a boot.

Mind wandering to better things than the situation I was in, it didn't help, it just made me want my freedom all that more. Wanting to see Kai again, slap Mariah back for cheating on me and then kissing her and telling her how happy I was that she did. I loved Rin, would always love her even if she wasn't my own. I don't think that would ever change, but I wouldn't be able to tell her again.

Slowly I could feel my happiness from meandering about better times slip, and I was thrown into a fit of depression. I couldn't sleep that night, eyes wide at the ceiling above my head. Wondering how long I'd have to stay here, when they were going to kill me. How long does it take to make a clone anyways? Surely, they wouldn't need me once it was done, so why keep me alive? I hate being used as bait, and you'd think I'd have gotten used to it by now; you're wrong.

They weren't all that big on explaining it to me, but somehow after the weeks of being locked up in that cell, the others had tried to free me but came up empty handed in their attempts. I couldn't cry that night, I had cried every night since I had been here. After the third day being held captive they had released my bonds, and I paced the cell daily. It was the only thing I could do to keep myself from going insane, the door opened again, and Boris stalked inside.

I stood and watched him, the light behind him bright and it hurt to look at; I hadn't seen any kind of light since being in here. I stiffen as he comes closer and then pushes me towards the rickety bed in the corner of the room, sorry you're not my type.

I don't fight back and sit on the bed, he doesn't make a pass at me, for which I am more than thankful for. I just watch him, as he studies me for a second before reaching behind the back of my had and pulling roughly on the base of my hair wrap. I wince but can't fight back, I don't want to fight back I'm too tired. He chuckles menacingly at me, and my eyes widen as he pulls out a large pocket knife.

"You won't be needing this anymore." He says as he pulled harder, and I try to jerk away but it only pulls the hair tighter and that's when he slashes and cuts above the wrap, severing my hair from the back of my head. The blade nicks my neck and I hiss in pain.

He holds my wrap in his hands, showing me what he's done, and I just glare at him, holding the back of my neck and blood is seeping between my fingers. The damp air only makes the wound sting more and I hiss again, pressing down harder. He smirks at me and drops my hair, pulling my hand away and he takes the tip of the knife and pulls it down harder against the back of my neck widening the wound. I scream and writhe in pain, but his legs come down on my knees and I can't move away. The blade just grazes the skin, but it fucking hurts like a bitch.

"That's all for now pussy cat." He coos, and I will myself not to throw up at his nicknames for me.

He stalks out of the room, leaving me to bleed into the back of my hand. My eyes stay focused on my discarded hair on the ground, they just ripped, cut away, a part of me and I can't do anything to fix this problem. The door slams shut behind me again, enveloping the room in darkness once more. Much like my soul and hopes, nothing but a void is what I've found myself in now and I don't see a light or a way out.

I should have stayed in China.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**

 **Welcome back, I promise I'm trying to keep this updated as much as possible. Right now, I'm only getting a few things here and there to write out, so I hope I'm not just writing out dribble at this point.**

 **This is a rated M fic for a reason, expect blood, violence, sex, and death to come.**

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

How long has it been since my life was thrown back into the pits of hell? A week, three weeks? No, if that had been the case, I'd be a bit more pleased with life right now. Four months, four months have passed, and we haven't found anything on where Voltaire and Boris took Ray. We tried once, but when we had failed they up and left, leaving nothing behind for us to possibly track them.

There were too many clones of Boris, some looked like the current one while others had been genetically changed to younger versions of himself. Those younger ones were trained, and they over powered us again, we were lucky to have gotten out before one of us died; again.

It was a shock to us, a month after everything had happened. The others tried to put on a strong front, but I could see them breaking as the days went by. Tyson's surgery had lasted a good day and a half once he had been whisked off to the hospital, and he was making a good recovery afterwards. For once Hilary had nothing to say, when she spoke it was always in a quiet whisper and she wouldn't look at you in the eyes. Part of me knew of her pain, trying to look strong for their son. Max had permanently moved into the house with us, while Daichi and Kenny stuck around most days. I sent Bryan off again to pick up any leads, I needed Tala here with me and we contacted Spencer and Ian to go with Bryan.

It was the day Tyson had been released from the hospital, everyone was happy and excited; at least as happy as they could be. Goh was the one to find her, my son has been through enough already and it pissed me off that he was the one to find her. Dangling by a sheet that she had tied around her neck, and the metal rod that ran the span of the closet of Ray's old room.

Rin hadn't spoken since her mother killed herself, there was no note left behind so we were left up to figure out why she had done it. I honestly didn't care, how could I when she was my lover's wife and that my son was the one who found her? His night terrors had already spiked since the tournament, and after that they've just gotten worse.

I don't think anyone blamed me, if they did they didn't say or show it. I certainly didn't blame myself, it was her choice to do that to herself and child. When we got Ray back, whenever that was going to be, I know he'll cry for her and I'll be there to console him. We contacted Lee for him to get his sister, and he came a few days later and took her away with Rin. If he knew about Ray and me, he didn't say anything to me, hell, he hardly glanced my way the entire time he was here.

It's been four months since the tournament, and I've willed myself not to break any more than I already have. I have to be strong for Goh, for the others. With Tala here, it's only dulled the ache I have, but I don't know how much longer I can hold out. The other three Russians haven't come up with anything, they've scoured Japan from top to bottom. Moving off to Russia, where they are now.

For now, I've kept to my room with Goh who is asleep taking a nap since he didn't sleep last night at all. We're just waiting now, and it's becoming unbearable. Before I can delve back into my depression there's slight twitch that starts in the side of my head, and a smirk crosses my lips as I wait for Tala to speak to me.

{Kai… Kai… You… You need to come down here… Now.} With that the twitch subsides and his voice fades.

I frown, not sure what that was all about. I stand and look over my shoulder at Goh one last time before stepping out of the room, leaving the door cracked on my way out. The air coming down the stairs has stilled and it's heavy, everyone is down there starring at the doorway from where they were previously around the living room. Curiosity getting the better of me, I pause on the last step and turn to face the doorway myself.

My heart stops, my eyes grow wide and I can feel tears burning the corners. He's here, he's standing right there in the doorway, but I feel like this is just another dream of mine and I can't move. His smile doesn't waver, and he looks over at me, his golden eyes gleaming and he steps my way. Everyone's eyes are glued to him, but they don't move or say a word.

He's dressed in what looks like some sort of dark blue jump-suit, with a black choker type necklace around his neck. His complexion is a bit paler than normal, but that's to be expected, he doesn't have any scars or bruising on his face. His hair is held up in a high pony-tail, falling around his lower back, with his bangs pulled back so I have full view of his face.

"Hey." He say's so calmly and my hands tremble at my sides.

"Is… Is it really you?" I raise a hand and place it on his right cheek, he's warm, and he leans into my hand. If it was a dream I would have woken up by now, I was never able to touch him in my dreams.

"Yeah… I missed you." He says, closing his eyes and my heart flutters in my chest.

"I… I missed you too." I breathe out through a shaky breath.

"Where's Mariah and Rin?" His eyes pop open and look at me, and the air in the room gets sucked out as everyone braces themselves for his reaction.

"Ray… Mariah, she killed herself... Three months ago, Lee took Rin back with him to your village."

His mouth hangs open slightly, and I can see his eyes wavering and glaze over, but he doesn't cry.

"As long as Rin is safe." He sighs out and I remove my hand, he's handling it a lot better than I was suspecting.

"Are you? What happened? Where did they take you?" I jump him with so many questions after a moment of silence passes over us, and he doesn't falter from my hounding.

"I'm alright, a bit shaken up, but they didn't harm me. They just kept me locked up, then we moved after you guys tried to get me…. I don't know where we were, but I was able to escape."

As his words passed his mouth, Tala was already on the phone calling up Bryan to bring him and the other two back; our links don't work over long distances.

"Ray, I know this is sudden and you just got back. But I'll need you to come with me down to the police station and make an official statement." Max says as he comes over to us, standing on the other side of Ray.

"Sure, not a problem." He's still way too cheerful, but if it's his way of coping I won't ask, but I don't want him to go and I grab his hand.

"Can't it wait?" I sneer at Max, almost eye level with him as I'm still on the last step of the stairs.

"The sooner the better Kai, I'm sorry. You can come if you want, that's fine." He huffs out at me, and I snarl but I don't say anything more.

Max allowed Ray to change into his own pair of clothes, but he kept that choker on. Once he came down the stairs we left in Max's truck to the police station, Tyson decided to tag along. Tyson took the passenger seat, while Ray and I took to the back. My hand didn't leave his the entire time, he didn't really look at me or any of us or say much on the drive. He just stared blankly out the window, and I kept my mouth shut. If he wanted to talk to me about it, he would have, and I wasn't going to press him for more information; I was just glad to have him back.

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

I'd scream if I could, but my throat is dry, and my lungs are burning watching the scene before me. That's not me, that's not me there with my friends or my lover. When Kai had told the clone, Mariah had killed herself I cried, I cried so hard it's left me without speech or much air to breathe. Why do these sick bastards want to torture me like this, wasn't keeping me here enough for them?

The two clones of Boris that came and hauled me to this room didn't say anything, but their smiles on their lips had sent chills down my back. They had bound my wrists to the back of the chair, my ankles to the legs and left. At first, I was confused as to why they had sat me down in front of the small monitor screen, but my questions were answered when the view of Tyson's house popped up.

Everyone looked so heartbroken, then they looked stunned and were all speechless. They all had stood up from what they were doing, just staring at the fake me. Kai came down the stairs shortly after, my heart somersaulted, and tears ran down my cheeks and burned the scars that I've received over the months of being here.

He looked so broken, I have never seen him look like that in all the years I've known him. I could tell he wasn't sleeping, his pale skin under his eyes were practically black. When he touched the fake me, a chill ran down my body and I screamed at the monitor. The chill ran down again when he told the fake me Mariah had killed herself and I was thrown into a fit of hysterics, by the time Max had stepped up my crying had stopped but I was left breathless.

I watched the screen through my hazy vision as the fake me left the others, going upstairs to my old room. He shuffled around a bit before changing, only taking the hidden camera off for a minute and I got a view of what he looked like sideways. He would have looked like me four months ago, but not now. His hair was longer than mine was now, he didn't have scars or burn marks on his arms and back like I do, nor were his pupils slit like mine. It made me hate him, even more so when he put on my clothes, the camera was lifted and placed back wherever it was before, and it panned as I'm assuming he turned and looked around the room.

My eyes widened as he stepped through the bathroom doors into Kai's room, and my heart sank as the camera's view landed on Goh asleep in Kai's bed.

"Get away from him!" I know he can't hear me, but I still screamed out.

My heart was racing with anticipation about what he might do, but he didn't do anything. He stood on the side of the bed, Goh's sleeping form just stayed there untouched in the camera's view before it changed, and I could see he was walking away.

Once the end of the stairs came into view, Kai was back in the view of the camera and he held a hand out for the fake me. A soft smile on his lips and my heart melted and broke; that's not me babe, please see it's not me! Following Max, Tyson, and Kai out of the house, they crawled into Max's truck. My view the entire time during the ride was the city rolling by, there was a slight reflection and I could see that the camera was attached on a choker around his neck. There was no way anyone would be able to see it, it was so small I barely saw it.

Fast forward and they're at the police station, Max is sitting across from the fake me at a metal table. He has a sad soft smile on his lips, his huge blue eyes still look sad mixed with something else and he sighs deeply before speaking.

"I'm really relieved to see you're alright Ray… If it's too hard, we can stop whenever you need to. But, I do need answers. If you can remember anything, where you might have been, what they did to you. If they disclosed anymore information to you about their plans, anything at all will help."

"For the first month they kept me in a cell, they fed me three times a day. They didn't tell me about their plans, beyond them coming to my cell to give me food, I hardly saw them. When everyone came to try and rescue me, and you failed, they didn't say where we were going. I was blindfolded the entire time, when they removed it I was already in another room. This time, it was an actual bedroom though." The fake me lies, lies all of them. Sure, _he_ might not have been subjected to the torture I have endured, but that's hardly the truth.

I was fed once a day, sometimes never. They told me their plans, almost daily because they're such boastful guys. I didn't see Voltaire as much as I did Boris, whom I could tell was the real one by the third time he came to torture me. He was different than the clones I had seen the first few times, the clones didn't hold that malicious look in their eyes like the real one did. He was right about not knowing where we went after their failed attempts at rescuing me, but I would hardly call my room a bedroom. There's a bed in there, but beyond that it's just another cell that has carpet and painted walls. The window is bricked and boarded up, so it must have been an actual bedroom at one point.

He fails to mention that after the guys tried to get me, that I was tortured near the brink of death. If it hadn't been for the adrenaline shot they stabbed into my sternum, I would have died. After that it just got worse, instead of beating me they burned me on my back in several places, and it hasn't stopped. I look nothing like that clone does, he's the old me and I'm the new me; fragile, broken, and weak.

"Was there a window in the room you were in?"

"Yes, but it was boarded up." Now he decides to tell the truth.

"How did you escape?" Max has been writing everything down on a yellow note pad, he hasn't looked up since the clone started talking.

"When they brought me my food that night, normally they come in groups of three or more. But this time, only one came and I overpowered him and took his gun. I found my way out of the house, and then just kept running. I can't tell you where the house is, I wasn't paying attention where I was."

Max looks up for a second, and something flashes in his eyes. I pray that he knows me better than that, I have always been observant of my surroundings, whether I was running from death or not. His eyes study the fake me for a second before he goes back to writing something down, when he's done he placed the pen on the desk in front of him.

"Alright, that's it for now I suppose. Is there anything you'll need, or want?" He crosses his arms over his chest as he leans back into his chair.

"No, I'm alright." There's no thank you after that sentence, and I pray Max catches on soon; I'm never that rude unless I'm mad.

"Do you want to call Rin?" He eyes the other me again, and I can see that flash in his eyes again. Yes Max, figure it out!

"No, that's alright. I know she's safe with Lee… Apparently she's not my child anyways." Well, that's not a lie either, but if it was me I would have still wanted to call Rin.

"Wow… I'm sorry to hear that Ray. How do you know?" Max does look sorry for me at the revelation, what a gentle giant he is.

"Boris told me, he took my blood along with Rin's and ran a test for their plans to work they needed her blood." Max simply nods, and he starts to chew his bottom lip as he looks to be in thought.

"Alright… That's all I have to ask you for now, we can head back to Tyson's." Max stands, collecting the note pad he had been writing on and heads for the door.

Fast forward and the fake me is back with the others, talking and laughing like nothing happened around the kitchen table. He refused Hilary's offer to make dinner, which should have raised alarms but they all were none the wiser. Cooking helps me relax, if that was me I would have been right on that shit in a heartbeat. During their talks I learned Tyson had been shot and in the hospital, but he looks fine and that part made me a bit happier. For a while it felt like the real me was with them all, but it hurt just the same because I wasn't.

I must have sat there and watched that damn monitor for hours, the night dragged on and the others all said their goodnights to one another. The fake me was taken outback, being led by Kai until they stood under that damn tree. He looked nervous, but eventually I could hardly see anything other than his neck and just the slight point of his chin. My heart stopped, tears spilled down my cheeks.

I could see the way his throat muscles moved, I knew what they were doing. The breathing from the camera's mic was getting heavier, and I closed my eyes, I couldn't bear to watch. I had turned my head away, but it was jerked back around by a strong hand. I hadn't even noticed Boris come into the room, I had been so wrapped in watching the monitor that nothing else mattered. He pried my eyes open, and I hissed at him, but he just chuckled at my attempts to pull away.

For a while all that was showing on the monitor screen was Kai's neck, then it pulled away and I could see that they were in the bathroom that joined our rooms. When did they get there?! This must have been a sick joke, the fake me must have been told to do it this as a way to torture me.

The fake me, naked, whenever that happened I don't know either. Was leaning on the counter, both hands firmly planted on it. The choker still on his neck, and I could see the reflection of everything perfectly through the bathroom mirror. Kai was behind him, naked as well, kissing up and down the fake shoulders. His right hand running along the fake abs, I worked for those not him. While his left was stuck in the fake hair, also mine that I worked for. I couldn't see below his hips, for which I was thankful for.

"Please… Stop…" I managed to plead, I don't want to watch this. My heart is breaking, and I can't stand it anymore, I'd rather die than watch this happen.

"The good part hasn't even started yet my pet." Boris chuckles, and his grip on my chin tightens.

The fake closes his eyes, and I try to close mine again, but I can't because of Boris's fingers. I could close one, but that would only be more painful on my end. Kai keeps kissing down the fake's back, whispering something to him but I can't hear it all that well, it sounds like he's speaking through a tunnel as my head is throbbing with a hot pain.

The kissing stops, and he looks over the fakes shoulders, and for a second it felt like he was looking directly at me. A cold chill ran down my back, his hands were placed over the fakes hips and then their faces contort in the reflection.

"STOP, PLEASE STOP THIS!" I'm crying hysterically, I don't care if it hurts to cry; watching this is worse.

The pounding in my head makes their noises sound muffled, but it's the faces that get to me the most. Kai hardly glances up, but when he does from time to time, I can see that he's fully in a love and lust mode. I had seen it personally each time we had done this, and because he thinks it's me the look doesn't change. My focus is on Kai, I'd rather watch him than the fake enjoying what should rightfully be mine. It honestly wouldn't have mattered who I focused on though, it still hurt regardless.

I'm praying that he finishes quick, I can't take it if he drags this on much longer, I know he has the stamina to keep it going. For once please don't think of me, and just get it over with. My prayers go unanswered, and I'm forced to sit through this torment for another ten minutes before it ends. He tilts the fake's chin back, and they kiss. My body shakes, and I can't stop the bile that comes up. It splatters on my feet, but I don't care.

Boris turns the monitor off before he undoes my bonds, for the first time since I've been here I lash out. My claws draw blood along his cheek and jaw, it's going to leave a permanent scar and I smirk at him. He doesn't move from me, just glares hard at me but it doesn't faze me; he's got nothing on one of Kai's glares.

"That was a big mistake, Kon." He threatens, and if it wasn't for how angry I was I would have faltered.

My fist connects again, square in the center of his nose and he falls back into the monitor. I don't let up, I can't; I want him dead! I lung at him, my fists connect with every inch of his face until I'm satisfied. I didn't know I had this in me, if I did I would have done it long ago and have been out of this hell hole. I leave him there unconscious and take his gun from its holster against the side of his torso.

My adrenaline is rushing through me and I don't look back, if I die then I die.

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

{Somethings wrong with him.} Tala glances my way as he speaks to me, it's a small exchange and I only nod.

Something is wrong, I can feel it, but I don't know what it is. It's been a week since he's come back, but he's not the same. At first, I chalked it up to him going through what he did, but by now he would have come back and been his normal self.

He doesn't talk much, he just sits and watches the others with wide eyes as if he's studying us. He won't ever take off that damn choker, even though I hate it. He hasn't spoken of Rin or to her, even if she's not his daughter that's still not him. He would have called, or have at least flown back to China to Lee and give his condolences. Turns out with Mariah doing what she did, we were now in the clear from being hunted down by his village. He doesn't act that happy about it though, and he didn't put up much of an argument when I told him we'd be leaving for Russia in two days.

He hasn't cooked anything since he's been here, nor has he acted the same around me. I hate to say it, but even his touches and kisses are different somehow. The sex is even different, even though I've offered him top several times he's denied it, as I know he hates being bottom. I still don't know what this all means though, maybe he went through something more than what he told Max and this is his way of coping.

The only real alarm I had go off, was when I couldn't read his mind. I have always been able to hear his thoughts, but now I can't. He doesn't know I can, so there's no way he'd be able to have blocked me. Tala and Bryan have tried, but they can't get in there either. Spencer and Ian can't read minds to begin with, that was just given to the three of us.

Sometimes I'm thankful for the ability to do so, other times I hate it, since all Tyson thinks about is food from the moment he wakes up till he goes to sleep. Hilary thinks of me, which is weird since she's married and I'm obviously gay. Daichi's mind is like the black and white screen of a TV when you can't get signal on it, while Kenny is just a bunch of numbers. Tala and Bryan only open their minds to me when we need to talk, so whatever they think about during the day I don't have the slightest clue. Max, well, our big friendly giant thinks of Tyson. Didn't see that one coming, that's for sure, but I don't judge. I kind of pity him, been there done that sort of deal. I don't think Hilary is going to hang herself anytime soon though, so Max won't ever have a chance; guess my life isn't all that bad.

After the three others came back from their search for Ray, things went back to normal. Most of them acted like it never happened, and I can't blame them. Beyond Mariah, we were all well off. Tyson's wound was just something else for him to boast about, and he showed it off at least four times a day, as if we didn't know he had the scar.

For now, I'm not concerned about Voltaire and Boris. When they make their move, we'll know it and this time we'll be ready.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note:**

 **This is it, the second to last chapter. Now I know this one is falling off a cliff, but there's not much I can do about that. I've lost my motivation for this story, I don't want it to clash too much with Carnival of Rust either, when I made that fic I didn't realize there were so many similarities to it and I apologize. I tried to keep them off the same path, but here we are.**

 **Even though I've lost my motivation for this one, it doesn't mean I've quit completely. I will always finish a story, that's just me. Please don't hate me too much for the way this chapter is, I want it wrapped up and done within the next day or two.**

 **I appreciate everyone's commitment, and loyalty to getting this far in the story. If I disappoint I apologize.**

 **Reviews are always welcomed, specially now since I don't think this is my best work.**

 **If you can, enjoy the show and I'll see you at the end.**

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

"Ray?... Is… Is that you?" I don't know Tyson, is it really me? I can't tell now-a-days who I am anymore.

How long has it been since I've seen his face, god he looks like he's seen a ghost; they all do. He should really lock his front door though, I wasn't thinking when I barged in on them all; no wonder they look terrified.

I'm panting, hard, because I've been running. For how long, I have no clue now. I made it out of that hell hole alive, I think. I don't feel alive, I feel broken and exhausted. I want to sleep, I haven't slept in days; not peacefully anyways. My lungs burn, the scars on my body are screaming at me and my eyes are trying to close to block out the harsh lights that's around me. I must look like death just stepped into his house, like a ravaging cat who just escaped the animal catchers.

"Ray… But… How? We saw you… You left with Kai." My head snaps up to him, having fallen to the floor once I crashed into the house.

"What?" I manage to speak, though the air that escapes my throat is hot and cold at the same time and it stings.

"You… You left with Kai, a month ago." Is that how long it's been? I hadn't noticed. "Is… Is everything alright? Did you guys get caught or something?" He doesn't realize that the me that left, wasn't me.

"Tyson… Listen… That…" I can't control the cough that comes up and I hack out blood, wiping it away and rest back against the wall with a few shaky breaths, until I know my lungs won't collapse on me now. "That was a clone… I'm me… Not… Not the other…" His eyes go wide, they all do and the silence looms over us.

"I… I don't understand Ray… How?" He persists, obviously my hacking up my own blood doesn't give it away that I can hardly speak; or breathe for that matter.

"Tyson, hold on. Let's get him settled in, he needs a doctor." Hilary cuts in, and I'd say bless that woman for having a brain, but I don't want doctors.

No more needles, no more tests and no more taking my blood. I shake my head, as it's all I can do. She opens her mouth to protest but I shake my head harder, trying to give them the best pleading look I can muster.

"If you're sure Ray… C'mon, I'll get you cleaned up at least." She hesitates before coming over to me, and starts to pull me to my feet.

It's not an easy feat as my body's decided to become a dead weight against my will, Tyson and Max come over and they all haul me to my feet. Dragging me down to Tyson and Hilary's room, they're the only three here while Makoto must be upstairs. I'm dragged through their room to the bathroom, I can't protest but I hiss as they turn the lights on and close my eyes. I'm still not used to the new brightness of everything my new pupils pick up, I've been trapped in a dark dingy cell for too long and it's all blinding me.

I'd say I was embarrassed, being undressed and washed by Tyson's wife, but I wasn't. I was too tired to care what she saw and what she was doing, in a way it felt nice to be pampered in such a way. She didn't say much, but I could see the concern in her eyes as she saw the damage done to me. I hadn't seen myself in a mirror yet, but I knew I'd lost a good amount of weight and the muscle mass I've acquired over the years. My hair, obviously all gone up to the nape of my neck. My eyes, no longer round but slit like an angry cat's. The burn marks that I knew were there and the scars that marred my arms and legs, her eyes landed on each one and she sighed out.

"This doesn't make any sense… We need to call Kai though, he might be in danger. What is Voltaire and Boris's plans, making a clone of you and then sending it here?" I don't think she was expecting an answer, I can't give her one lest I go back into a coughing fit and hacking my blood back up.

I can't even move my shoulders to shrug at her, or shake my head as sleep is starting to take hold of me. I try and fight it, but her hands working the soap on my skin and the shampoo in my hair is lulling me off…

* * *

Somethings not right, it's too dark now and it's too quiet. The smells are familiar around me, but this isn't right. I shoot out of the bed, the sheets that hold the familiar smell falling around me and I chance a look around. I'm in my old room, when did I get here? There's some noise now that I can detect downstairs, it's daylight out as I can see the sun's rays filtering though the blinds of the window. It takes me a moment to collect my bearings, how and when did I get here?

I don't remember much, I remember running day and night from wherever it was I had been held captive. I remember falling unconscious a few times, due to the pain that surged through my body. I remember the feeling of being hungry day in and day out, but I don't remember how I got to my old room; a dream?

There's a scream from the closed door, it sounds like Hilary's voice but that doesn't make sense either. Slowly I stand, pushing myself off my bed and tip-toe to the door. Cracking it slowly and quietly I peek out, trying to listen. The smells around me are familiar, but like always this is just a dream; it has to be. They always say curiosity killed the cat, and mine got the better of me as I slinked down the hall on the tips of my toes. Up to the top of the stairs, the yelling isn't as loud but the voice I've come to recognize as Hilary's is still talking in an angry tone. I slink down, I was always light on my toes and I would have made it down the stairs without problem, until I stepped on the step that creaks.

I freeze, the voices stop below me. I'm halfway down the stairs now and I can hear footsteps coming towards the bottom of the stairs, I want to run but my legs aren't responding. Tyson and Hilary's faces come into view at the bottom of the stairs and they both give me warm smiles.

"It's good to see you're awake Ray, can we get you anything?" Hilary starts, and my heart slows down it's beating against my rib cage.

"We were afraid you wouldn't have woken up at all, you've been asleep for five days man." Tyson adds in, so this isn't a dream? I'm actually here, I'm safe?

"C'mon Ray, can you make it down the stairs yourself?" Hilary calls to me and I nod, still slinking my way down the last few steps till I'm on the ground floor in front of them.

"We tried calling Kai, but he's not answering any of our calls. Max has gone off to Russia, to find out what's going on." Tyson starts, placing a hand on my back and is leading me to the kitchen behind his wife.

I swallow hard, I still don't know why Voltaire and Boris sent that clone here. Only to torture me that first, and last day, of me being there. When I watched him... Tears start to run down my cheeks as I don't want to think about it, but I do. I see it clear as day, the way those two interacted and what they had done. Tyson rubs my back in a comforting gesture, he doesn't know what I saw and I'm not about to tell him. He gets me down in a chair at the table, sitting beside me as his hand doesn't leave my back. Hilary starts into the kitchen portion, going about trying to make something worth eating for me.

"It's alright Ray, Kai will be alright. You'll see, Max will get there before anything bad happens." But, bad things have already happened.

"We should have known it wasn't you, what kind of friends are we, to have not have seen the fake?" Hilary mumbles, but I don't blame them.

"Rin?" I manage, and they both look at me questioningly.

"Yeah, hold a sec I'll get my phone." Tyson jumps up, running to his room that's connected to the kitchen.

He comes back and hands me the phone, I take it with a slight nod of my head before dialing Lee's number. I wait, my nerves are getting the better of me as it just rings. My breath leaves me as he answers, he greets me, but I can't find my voice yet, so I put it on speaker and gesture for Tyson to say something.

"Hey Lee, it's Tyson. Ray was wanting to speak to Rin." Tyson sounds a bit nervous too.

"Ray? What's that son of a bitch want? Rin isn't his, so he shouldn't concern himself with Rin now. Why is he with you? Wasn't he back in Russia?" Lee sneers and I wipe the tears from my face, she may not be my biological child, but I was the one who raised her.

"Lee, listen. Ray has a right to speak to Rin, she's known him as her father this long. To take that away, at a time like this is selfish. And no, the real Ray is here with us. It's a long story, but trust us when we say that the Ray that went to Russia, isn't the real Ray." There's a snort from Lee on the other end, I don't think he's bought it.

"Tyson, that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It makes no god damn sense, what are you on?!"

"I'm not on anything! I'm being serious here Lee, you need to listen to me! The Ray that is in Russia isn't the real one, we have the real one! And he wants to speak to HIS daughter!" Tyson yells back, it goes silent for a minute and even Hilary has stopped doing what she was and is looking over at us.

"Can't do that Tyson, Ray's lucky he's still alive after what he's done. If it wasn't for Mariah stepping out of their vows first, he'd have been a dead man long ago. He put Rin's life in danger when he started this all up, so no. He's not allowed to speak to her, ever again." With that, he hung up. Tyson stared at the phone in my shaking hands, how could I have forgotten that?

Being in love with Kai, put our lives at risk; Rin's life at risk. Lee was just doing what he needed to, to protect her now. I had no claim on her, he made that clear and there was nothing left for me or Tyson to say now. For the most part, I don't care who her real father is, it doesn't matter right now. Not when Kai and Goh are still in danger, I just wish I knew what kind of danger that was. Were we all still in danger? Those two old whack jobs had taken the kids blood, no doubt there would be clones of them too. How would we fight them, would we even be able to?

I tried to eat what Hilary had made, it wasn't bad but having actual food in my system sent it into overdrive and I could hardly finish it. It caused my stomach to turn and flip violently, I did all I could to keep it from coming back up. She didn't seem all that heartbroken when it did, she just gave me a sympathetic look and rubbed my back for me as I was bent over the toilet. When I finished and sat back, she put a wet cloth to my lips and cleaned me up again.

"What do we do about your eyes?" She asks me, I was waiting for that question, sadly I don't have an answer for her.

"Don't know." I whisper out, my throat still burns with a new pain from the stomach acid that's risen up.

"Does it hurt?"

"Very much, everything is more narrow and brighter." I nod, and she helps me stand once I realize that my stomach is once again empty. "Has Tyson been able to get a hold of Max yet?" I ask as she leads me to the living room, having been using her bathroom it's not that far of a walk.

"I don't think so…" She shakes her head, leading me to the chair, Kai's chair, and helps me rest into it.

"I'm sorry…"

"What for? Now listen here Raymond Kon, I don't want any apologies. Not for a single thing, am I clear? You have done nothing wrong, absolutely nothing wrong in the slightest." She starts off on me as if I'm a child, her hands go to her hips and for a second she looks like her teenage self.

"But." I start, and she holds a hand up. I can only glance up at her through the tops of my eye lids as I've hung my head.

"I'm not mad at you and Kai for doing what you've done in my home, I'm not mad at you for giving yourself up to Voltaire and Boris to save your wife and child. I'm not mad for having to baby you, and I'm certainly not mad at you for having a clone made from your DNA. If anything, I pity you right now. You've been through so much, in so little time. You're strong though, you'll get through this all." She places a hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze before she leaves me.

I can only nod, I don't want her pity, I don't want anyone's pity. I just want them to be safe, from what I'm not sure of just yet. Part of me is dying to know, what's to come next. The other part, is dying not to know.

* * *

 **Kai's POV**

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times by now. He's not right, he's not the same. Something is wrong, but I don't know what it is. I have tried, time and time again to read his mind but nothing is coming through to me. He still watches us, hardly saying a damn thing. That choker, I took it off and destroyed it the second we got back to Russia. It's been a month since we left Japan, we couldn't have left fast enough. Goh is still having problems, I'm still having problems, but I have to push those down for my son.

Ray and I have never been so close, but so far apart at the same time. There are days I want to beat the shit out of him, tell him to man the fuck up and get over it all. So what, your wife cheated on you and the child you thought was yours isn't, you're not the first person that's happened to. But I don't do anything, I can't do that to him, but damn it's starting to become a habit thinking that one day my fist is going to meet his face.

The others; Tala and Bryan and the others of their team, have gone back to Japan. Having found where Voltaire and Boris are hiding right now, I haven't gotten an update but I'm expecting one soon enough. I don't know why we didn't bother searching there first, Hiwatari Mansion, Voltaire owned it when I was a teenager. I tried to spend as less time there as I could when I lived in Japan, so there was no way in hell I was going with them to finish the job. That was their task, mine was getting mine and my son's life back to normal as much as possible.

The only problem, beyond Ray, is Tyson keeps calling me. I ignore his calls, I've ignored all their calls. I can't be bothered by him right now, constantly trying to check up on me. I'm not a damn kid, I can handle this on my own. I don't need them, and I'm slowly starting to realize I don't need, want, Ray either. I never thought a life with him would be like this, he's depressing to be around. We don't touch much, and he never talks half the time anyways, there's no sex or even the simplest of kisses anymore. He just watches Goh and me, I think he's mad because I killed that god damn choker of his; but why the hell was he wearing it anyways?

The summer is starting to come to a close, which means Goh will have to go live with his mother during the school year. I know, upon seeing him she'll haul my ass back to court for full custody. I won't go down without a fight though, I won't let her take away my son. So, with the few weeks I have left with him, I've placed him in therapy with the hopes that'll help him in some way. For the most part it seems to be working, his night terrors aren't as violent and strong since he's been going. He's not afraid to touch his beyblade anymore, and we've had friendly matches, just to keep his spirit up. I didn't waste my time to ensure he had a normal childhood for nothing, I will do everything in my power to make sure he still has that.

Right now, that's where we are. In a training facility, he's practicing by himself right now while Ray and I are sitting here on the sidelines watching him. As always, Ray is just watching him, even though I've tried to get him to speak to me. My hand has itched several times, wanting to connect with that beautiful face of his. It hasn't yet, because I know once I start laying into him I won't be able to stop; maybe _I_ should start going to therapy?

We're the only ones here, having bought out the space for the day. Too many people around Goh sends him over the edge, and without the other Russians with me I can't be put in another life or death situation. I don't think Ray would be much help to me at this point, if we were being hunted down by Voltaire and Boris or not, it was too much of a risk; one I wasn't willing to make.

Goh relaunches his blade into the dish, and I relax a bit watching him. Ray on the other hand stiffens beside me, I glance his way and he's frowning. He's heard something, and I immediately go on high alert, trying to hear what he does but I'm just a mere human; who can only read minds.

"What is it?" I whisper to him, leaning a bit closer to him so as not to cause Goh to freak out.

"Someone's here." I haven't heard him speak in days, so I'm a bit surprised to have heard him answer me.

"How many?" I start to stand, casually to keep Goh in the dark.

"Just one." He responds again, and I see his ears twitch a bit, picking up another sound.

"Take Goh out of here, take him out the back way and head to the car. I'll deal with them." He hesitates for a second before standing, going over to my son and convinces him to leave.

Once they've slipped out the back doors, I head towards the front of the building. It's not as big as most gyms, but it is a good while before I reach the main lobby. The glass doors have been shattered, the glass is laying all around the floor. I stare at it for a second, drawing my gun from my hip and try to listen to where the person may have gone. An audible click reaches my hearing and I stiffen, immediately I can sense Max behind me and I slowly turn to face him; what the fuck is he doing here?!

"Put it down Kai, I'm not here to hurt your or Goh." He's aiming his gun at my face, and I have mine at him.

"Then why are you here, what's the meaning of this?" I demand, and try to get into his head but for the moment it's blank.

"I came to find you, make sure you and Goh were safe."

"Why wouldn't we be?" I sneer, that gun in his hand is only pissing me off more. This is the second time he's gotten the balls to pull it on me, and that's been two times too many.

"Ray." Is all he says, and I stiffen again.

"What about him?!"

"It's not him, Kai. The Ray you have, isn't the real one."

"What are you fucking talking about?" His mind is still blank, so I don't know if what he's saying is the truth or not.

"Where are they, Goh and the clone? Goh isn't safe with him; please tell me you haven't given him a gun." My blood runs cold for second, I have given him a gun. "Shit! Let's go!"

He pulls his gun down and I don't know what to do, my mind is still processing this all. The Ray that's here isn't the real one, but how? Clone? Boris had clones, they made a clone of Ray?! What for? I don't voice my thoughts and rush after Max, who heads back into the training room I was just in. They're not here and my blood runs cold again, I motion for Max to follow me out the door.

I never left those two alone together, either Tala or Bryan were always with Goh if I couldn't be. I just sent my son to his death, without even realizing it. It explains it all, the way he's just always sitting there watching. He was tasked with coming with me, to kill my son. No doubt because Voltaire and Boris have made clones of Goh and the other kids to wield the new dark bit-beasts. How could I have been so blind?!

I shove my weight into the door, knocking it off its hinges as I crash through it. The back door leads into an alleyway, but there's no sign of Goh or the clone. I told him to go to the car, but I'm not that stupid to think he listened. He was waiting for the opportune moment to get my son, and I just handed him over on a silver platter no less.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?!" I reel on Max.

"Hello?! We fucking tried, you never answered your phone Kai! Don't blame us, this is your fault!" He's right, but I've never been one to take the blame.

"Obviously you're here though for a reason."

"Only because we couldn't get a hold of you, do you know how long it's taken me to actually find you?! God Kai, we don't have time to argue." He's right, but my mind is running a mile a minute. I can't think of the possibility of my son being killed, I don't want to. So, the only thing I can think to do is argue with him, shove the blame on someone else other than myself for my carelessness.

"Let's split up, I'll go this way, you go that way. They couldn't have gotten far." He orders, bringing me from my stupor and I nod to him.

We separate like he ordered, his footsteps echo down the alleyway until they fade into the distance that's now between us. The direction I've taken leads me into the parking lot, I can see my car sitting there with what I'm assuming is Max's rental just two stalls over. Beyond that, there is nothing in this parking lot. No sign or indication of where they might be, my mind is so clouded right now, and I take in a few breaths to clear it. I have never invaded my sons mind, but I can't be picky right now. If he's close by, I'll be able to hear him and maybe find out where he is.

I hardly hear anything, he's just mumbling to himself asking questions in his head which I'm sure he's asking the clone. He sounds panicked enough, but he's not taking any mental notes of what's around him. This plan of mine is failing, and it's failing fast. I try to locate Max, but once again it's blank and the link is slowly getting thinner as he distances himself further from me. That means, I'm closer to Goh than he is, my link to Goh was stronger. I start off, where I feel the tug of the link strengthen.

There's an abandoned shopping center down the road, the link is getting stronger the closer I get to it and I can only pray I'm not going the wrong way now. My legs are burning as I run, but I don't dare slow down. I reach the doors to the main entrance of the shopping center, there's a chain and lock wrapped around the door handles. I step back and fire at the lock until it breaks, releasing the hold and pull the chains off before pushing through the doors.

{Two?!} Goh's voice questions and it's like a ringing in my head. Two, two what?!

With that bit of communication I rush off to where the spike in the link has come through, up the downed escalator to the second floor. The entire place is dark, there's hardly any light coming through the windows of the main entrance window and what I can see from the store's windows that outline the center. It's just enough for me to see through, and I will my legs to run faster.

Gunshots ring out, I would freeze but my adrenaline just pushes me faster in the direction of the shots. I'm close, but I have to go up another flight of stairs. I can't feel the link anymore and my heart drops into the pit of my stomach, I won't dare think Goh is dead, I can't!

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

Damn, this clone of mine is a good shot. Much like me his hearing is on point, so I'm not too surprised he found my hiding spot. The bullet only grazed my shoulder, so it's not enough to have mortally wounded me; why the hell would Kai give him a gun?!

"Goh, are you alright?" I call out, I can see him in the darkness cowering behind the counter of this abandoned store I found them in.

Luckily for me I showed up at the right time, when the clone had drawn his gun and aimed it for Goh. I came in and he aimed it at me, so now I'm ducking behind what used to be a clothes stand, holding my shoulder that's seeping blood. Goh had managed to run away in time, while the clone's attention was turned on me. The noise from the gunshot has reverberated around the empty concrete shop, and it's left a ringing in my ears. It's dulling my hearing right now, everything is dulled out and I can hardly hear the footsteps that are coming my way.

Gripping the gun Max gave me, I pull it close to my chest. Blinking through the ringing and pain in my shoulder, a few more steps closer and I jump out of my hiding spot. We both shoot, I fall down as a bullet hit's me in my right hip. The pain is excruciating, and blinding. Tears well up, but I don't feel on the brink of death; I know what that feels like. I had fired at least three shots into the clone, but I never heard his body hit the ground.

My breathing picks up, and I try to push through the darkness and chance a look up. He's standing over me, blood is seeping down his face where a bullet grazed his cheek. There's a wound pouring blood down his left shoulder, where one bullet pierced it. The third wound is in his chest, so why isn't he dead?!

He stands over me, I bite my lip and force myself up on my elbows. That's as far as I get as he presses the end of his gun to my forehead, I freeze and close my eyes tightly. I had dropped my gun when I fell, and I don't know where it went, my hands are flopping on the floor trying to find it but with my luck it's not nearby.

The hammer of the clones gun cocks back, the click is loud; like it's mocking me with the way it blares into my hearing. I flinch, it's the only thing I can do at this point as he pushes the warm metal against my forehead.

Two gunshots ring out, but I don't feel any pain; was I not supposed to? I've never taken a bullet to the head, so I'm unsure. My heart is still beating, is it supposed to do that? I thought once my brain was blown away it was supposed to stop, I can still breathe; what's going on?

I manage to crack an eye open, once there's an audible noise that indicates a body has hit something. It wasn't my body, I'm still resting on my elbows and they're starting to hurt digging into the concrete flooring of this damn store. It wasn't Goh's, I can hear his breathing still behind the counter. I crack my other eye open, the clone's body is laid out over the clothing rack I had been hiding behind. His eyes are open and he's staring at me, but they're dulled over. Blood is pooling down his face from the bullet wound in the center of his forehead, and it's dripping down his chin onto the floor below him. His body is splayed over the rack, like he's a weightless doll.

"R… Ray?" That's my name, coming from that all too familiar voice from behind me.

My head snaps around so fast it should have broken, but lucky for me it doesn't and my eyes land on my savior. He's breathing hard, holding his stomach and he's slightly slouched over. He looks a mess, but I don't care I'm just glad to see him alive; glad that I am alive.

"Kai!" I rush to my feet, ignoring the pain in my hip as it screams at me and catch him before he falls over completely.

"Is it you… Is it really you this fucking time?" His breathing is horse and coming out in spurts, his tone is dark enough though and it doesn't take a genius to realize he's pissed.

"Yes, yes it is me. I promise it's me." I hold him tighter, but he just looks over me some more as his eye color is starting to dull. "Hang on, don't go to sleep. Keep your eyes open, keep them open for me Kai." I beg him, his eyes keep fluttering open and then closed and I can't do anything for him. I'm bleeding out here too, but I can't let him fall asleep.

"Dad?" Goh calls out quietly, I don't think he's brave enough to look over here though.

"Goh, stay there. Don't come out, wait till Max gets here." I order, and I hear him shuffle again behind the counter.

"Why… Why are you here? What… What the hell is going on?"

"Shut up, don't talk. Save your strength, I have to call Max." I tell him, and his head slops to one side as he's losing more blood by the second. It's pooled around my legs and it's staining into my shirt and mixing with my own blood; my wound isn't fatal but his is.

I wince and hiss in pain, situating him better against me; he's fucking heavy. When I get him in a better position I pull out my phone, calling Max the second I can get my fingers to stop trembling; I didn't come out here to have him die on me!

"Max, come quick! Kai's bleeding out, we're in the shopping center." I don't know if he could understand me with how fast I was talking, but he didn't give me an answer and the line went dead.

"I… I can hear your thoughts…" He mumbles and smiles a bit at me, what's that have to do with anything?!

"Okay… That's good, I think." I shift him again, pressing my free hand to his wound to try and stop the bleeding.

"It is you then…" He sighs out, that smile not wavering.

"I told you it was, now shut up! Goh, stay there!" I command, hearing him trying to shuffle around the counter to look. He makes a squeak but doesn't move more, having settled back into his hiding spot.

"I am going to die… Stop trying to fix it…" He tries to push my hand away from his wound, but he has no strength.

"NO! NO I won't let that happen! No one else should die- you can't." I started out strong, but by the time I finished my sentence my tears welled up and my voice cracked.

"This is my fault… I should have never have left you…" His hand reaches up and brushes against my cheek, his natural warmth is fading out and I cry harder.

"Just shut up, okay? Just stop talking, you'll be fine." I try to sound strong, but my words are coming out between my sobbing.

"Ray! Ray, the paramedics are coming. You have to let him go, Ray let him go!" I can hear Max, I can tell he's demanding me to do what he says but I can't. "RAY!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Authors Note:**

 **This is the end, this is where I leave you for this story. It dropped, I dropped it so far off the damn cliff it's not even funny and I apologize.**

 **Try and enjoy it as much as you can though, please give me your thoughts on it, they're greatly appreciated.**

* * *

 **Ray's POV**

Blue and red, red and blue, blue and red, red and red. Red, and blood, the color of blood is red. Blood is what's dripping down my legs, soaking my pants and pooling in the bottom of my shoe. Blue and red, those are the lights that are blinding me from the cop cars, the fire trucks, and the ambulances. I can't see past the blur of colors that are invading my vision to actually see how many there are, the only time something truly comes into focus is when I'm right up next to that object, or person.

My hip that got shot is going numb, my leg attached to that hip is going numb and I don't know how much farther I can walk. The sirens are blaring all around, making me go deaf and I'm stumbling now until a pair of hands grab me and haul me back to a steadier stance. The hands are warm, Kai's hands are warm; were warm. I don't know where he went, one minute he was in my lap the next I don't know; it's all a blur now.

I'm pushed to sit down somewhere, it feels like a warm bed, there's a distinct smell of cleaner or something like cleaner in the air. The noises dull out and the gray rectangles of fuzz that's before me come together, there's an audible click and then someone's in my face. He's a handsome man, dark blue eyes and black hair but I don't know him. His mouth is moving, but I don't know what he's saying.

The ringing is slowly dying out, and I catch a few of his words. It takes a minute before I can process what he's saying to me though, I must look stupid just staring at his mouth as he talks.

"Can you give me your name?" He asks, his breath smells like mint and cigarettes.

"Ray…" I manage to say as my body feels a bit different, are we moving?

"Ray, that's a good start. Can you tell me your last name, Ray?"

"Kon…" I grip the sheets to this bed of mine as my body is thrown a bit to the side, we are moving and as the color's start to come together out of the fuzz and blur I can see I'm in the back of an ambulance.

The man in front of me is in a dark-blue set of scrubs, he's a paramedic, he came and brought me here; but where is Kai?

"Kai?" He raises an eyebrow at me, does he not know who that is?

"You said your name way Ray."

"No, the other man. Kai, Kai Hiwatari!" I can't stop the tears, everything is coming back to me.

The blood coming out of his stomach, the way his body was losing its normal warmth and heat he always radiated. His final words to me, that he was dying.

"He's in the ambulance ahead of us, I need you to calm down now though." The man places a hand on my shoulder, but I just sob. "Was that your twin, that was killed?" He asks, I'm an only child, then it clicks; the clone.

"No… No…" I shake my head, but I don't think he'll understand if I explain it to him.

We go silent for the rest of the ride, I can't feel my leg anymore, but I've noticed I've been bandaged up and the bleeding has finally stopped but it's soaked the wrapping. I'm going to heal a lot faster than what they're expecting, my leg will get feeling in it in an hour or two. There was a reason Bryan couldn't keep me down all those years ago, I'm not immortal, but I can heal rather fast thanks to my neko-jin blood. Sometimes it's a blessing, other times it's a curse.

The ambulance stops, and I wasn't prepared for how it stopped, and my body jerked forward a bit, the man stopped me from falling off the stretcher with his arm against my chest. I give him a small smile as thanks, and the doors open with two more paramedics standing there with a wheelchair for me. The one in the ambulance with me helps me up, and they get me into the wheelchair.

As they wheel me around the back of the ambulance I came in, I can see them pulling the stretch Kai is laid up on being unloaded from his. He's just laying there, already with a bag of blood hanging over his head and a few other IV's stuck in him. I can't make out if he's breathing, the brightness from the lights are causing my vision to get blurry again. Just as quickly as I had seen him be unloaded, he's already being shoved through the doors of the ER and out of my sight.

"Ray!" Max's voice catches my ears and I turn to see him coming up behind me, Goh is clutched to his neck as he's holding him to his chest.

"Max… I… I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, it'll be fine." He gives me a warm smile, but I feel like it's fake and he's just lying to me. "Should get you up there now, get that wound cleaned up better and looked at." With that the nurse who was manning my wheelchair wheels me away, Max's form becomes a blur amongst the lights now and I turn forward.

The cold air hits my face as we enter the hospital, I don't want to be here. I'm going to be stuck with needles, people are going to prod my skin and ask me questions for the burn marks and scars. Panic sets in, but I can't get my one leg to work so I can't even run away if I want to. Once inside I'm shoved from the wheelchair onto a stretcher, a hiss escapes my lips as they're not all that careful with me. I can't fight back as they strap me down, and memories of being tortured flood my mind. They stick my arm with something, I can feel my head getting heavy and I can't keep it up. Everything turns to black as my head hits the back of the stretcher, I don't feel anything now.

* * *

"Good to see you up." Max's voice makes me jump, the IV in my arm tugs from the movement and I hiss again. "It's alright, you're safe." He sits on the edge of my bed, and even though he's close I can't see him.

Everything is still dark, I don't see a thing, but I know my eyes are open; I'm blind?!

"Ray, Ray calm down!" He grabs my arms as I'm clawing at my face, there's bandaged around my eyes from what I can feel in my panic. The IV's are tugging, but the pain is hardly worth my time.

"I can't calm down, I'm fucking blind!" I yell out, and he has the audacity to laugh at me.

"No Ray, now stop. You're not blind, calm down." His grip tightens around my wrists and he pulls my hands down, even though I'm trying to remove the bandages from around them.

"Then what's going on?!" I cry out, trying to calm my breathing.

"While you were under, I had them give you the clones eyes. It'll be a while till you can remove the bandages, but you're not blind." My heart leaps into my throat and it takes me a moment to swallow it down.

"W… What?"

"You have your old eyes back, technically." He sort of chuckles, but it's still taking a minute to process it all. "The doctor said it'll take a good week before your eyesight adjusts, but afterwards you'll be good as new. Your wound on your hip was already healing on its own, and they treated the more severe burn marks on your back for you while you were under." I nod to him; my breathing has finally evened out now.

"Thank you…"

"Don't mention it. I've already called the others to let them know what's happened, they'll be glad to know you're alright."

"What… What about Kai?" It gets silent, I don't like that, and I start to panic again. "Max… What about Kai?" I lower my voice, I'm a big man Maxie, just tell me; please.

"He… He's still in surgery… Has been for the past three hours…"

"Goh?"

"He's asleep right now, had to give him some sedatives, but he's over on the couch in this room right now." He sighs it all out, and I sit back to process it all.

"Do… Do the doctors know if Kai will… Will he be alright?" I choke back the tears, it burns slightly but I can't wipe them away with the bandages covering my face.

"They haven't said anything to me, so I don't know." I simply nod to him. "Do you want anything?" I shake my head no, I just want Kai. I want him to be alright, I don't want him to die.

The room goes quiet, save for my heart monitor that's keeping track of it. It has risen and fallen when I panicked, but now it's a slow and steady beep in the silence of the room. I can hear Goh's steady breathing, every now and then it picks up and I can only think he's having a night terror. I feel bad for him, I truly do. He's so young, and to have been through so much already.

* * *

I fell asleep again, this time naturally without the drugs. I didn't dream, it was just black and when I woke up I was met with the same blackness. This time, something else caught my hearing. It was another heart monitor, with a steady beep following along with the rhythm of my own.

"Max?" I called, sitting up and I don't know why, beyond it being habit, I turned my head to try and search him out even though I couldn't see anything.

"Yeah Ray?" He calls from my right.

"Is… Is that?" I nod towards the sound of the other heart monitor, it's on my left.

"Yeah." He breathes out, and I smile at his words.

I'm thankful for Max, for giving me my eyes back, but for once I wouldn't have minded trying to look past the lights if it meant I could look over and see Kai beside me.

"Is he awake?"

"No." I frown at his words.

"How long has he been here?" I know I sound happy, I am happy, even if I can't see him.

"An hour." Why is he only giving me short answers, tell me everything Max this is getting on my nerves.

"What did the doctors say?" I guess I'll just have to ask him.

"He's stabilized for now, but he's still fighting for his life. They put him in a medical induced coma, but they're only giving him till tomorrow before they try and bring him out of it. His body is a bit weak, along with his mind and they don't think he'll make it." I can hear the sadness dripping from his words, my tears well up but I bite them back.

"Help me." I command, and the room goes quiet. "Dammit Max, help me up and to him!"

"What will that do?" He asks, but I can hear him come over to my bed.

"Just take me to him." I order, holding out my arm that's not stuck with an IV and he takes it carefully.

Both legs work, even with the heavy amount of pain reducers in me I can stand pretty well. He helps me over and I feel for the edge of Kai's bed, my fingers grip the sheets and I motion for Max to help me sit next to him. He shifts around me a bit, the IV stand rolls around me some and then he's helping me up and down on the bed. Once I know I won't fall off, I turn a bit and search out Kai's body with slow and careful hands.

I meet the sheets again, but I can feel his chest slowly rising and falling underneath them. I grip a bit tighter, biting my bottom lip to keep from crying. He's right here, he's alive even if only half alive. I can hear his breathing, I can feel his breathing. He's so close, but yet he's so far from me. I don't like this, this isn't what was supposed to happen. I don't care if he kept his word, he didn't have to protect me.

"Give me a minute, please." Max walks away, I can hear the door open and then close and once I'm sure I'm alone I lean down and rest my head on Kai's chest, I don't put much pressure on it. He's not as warm as he normally is, but the warmth is there.

"You didn't have to keep your word… You didn't have to protect me you know. I would have gladly died to keep you and Goh safe, I would have taken that bullet. But no, you had to come in like a god damn super hero and get shot… What am I supposed to do if you die, where am I supposed to go if you don't wake up?" I go silent for a second, just listening to our heart monitors beep in sync with each other.

"I don't have a home to go to, I don't have a wife or daughter for that matter. All I have is you now, so you can't leave me… Do you hear me Kai Hiwatari, you can't leave me like this…" It burns to cry, and I'm tempted to rip these bandages off just so I can see him.

"You have to wake up, because unlike me you have a child that needs you. You have someone who loves you, so you need to wake up. Do you understand me?" My voice grows cold, for a moment I don't even know why I'm doing this but I'm putting out all my hope that he'll respond at some point.

"Wake up dammit, if you don't they're just going to let you die tomorrow. If you don't get up you'll die and you won't ever see your son again! Do you want that?! Is that what you want, that bitch of a woman that's his mother to have him? I know you hate her, I hate her too, so wake up so that doesn't happen!" I'm speaking nonsense at this point, but if it gets him to flinch in the slightest then I don't care.

There's silence again, the heart monitors still doing their job. Mines spiked up a bit as fear and panic have settled into the pit of my stomach once more, as I've thrown myself into a hysterical fit now.

"Please Kai… You can't leave me…" I settle down, if I don't the nurses will barge in here and demand to know why I'm out of bed.

Another spike in the heart monitor goes up, but it wasn't mine. I pull up, his breathing has picked up now as his chest is rising and falling faster. I can't see him, but he makes some kind of noise and I can only smile. Now I want nothing more than to tear off these bandages, but I don't dare mess up my new eyesight; I want to be able to see him for the rest of our lives together.

"Kai? Kai are you awake? I can't see you, so say something please." He makes another sound, it sounded like a gasp for air and I pull off his chest but I keep my grip on the sheets over him.

"Please, speak if you can. Do something so I know you can hear me."

There's the sound of sheets ruffling, and a warm hand clamps down on mine. My smile grows and I sob out, he's holding my hand; even if I can't see it I know that touch.

"MAX! MAX COME BACK!" I shout, not thinking what it could do to Kai, but I need someone to be able to tell me if he's actually awake.

The door jerks open, it hits the wall with a loud thud and I can hear Max rush up to the side of the bed.

"Is… Is he awake?"

"Yes." That wasn't Max's voice, and it was rather pissed off sounding too. "Don't yell like that again…" He warns, and I can only laugh through a sob once more.

"You should have said something sooner!" I bite back, though I think he can tell I'm playing.

"I would have, if you stopped talking for a second." He grips my hand tighter, and I can hear Max breathe a sigh of relief. "What's wrong with your eyes?" I can feel his fingers brush along the bandages as he asks me.

"They gave me the clones eyes, when I went for surgery for the bullet wound… My old pupils were permanently slit, it was rather painful."

"I'm sorry… I should have known it wasn't you…"

"It's alright, it's not your fault." I reach up and take his hand that's cupped the side of my face and pull it closer. "I know you looked for me, that's all I could have asked of you… But they're still out there, aren't they?"

"Tala and the others are after them right now, they're at the old estate, last I knew."

"Actually, I got word last night. They found them, and they disposed of them." Max cuts in, but there's something in his voice that doesn't sound as joyful as it should be at the news he's given us.

"But?" Kai breaks in before I can, and I can feel his body tense under me.

"Voltaire and Boris, and all his clones were taken care of. Everything they did, all their research and the black bit-beasts have been destroyed along with the clones of everyone's children…" He trails off again, and a part of me feels terrible for that part.

They may have just been clones, but they were clones of children. They didn't know any better, it wasn't their fault for how and why they had been brought into this world. There's something else though, something in his words that still sounds off.

"Ian… He… He didn't make it." That's what it is then, and I quietly mourn for him.

Kai takes in a ragged breath, but beyond that he's not going to show his emotions outwardly. I don't think he and Ian were ever close, but it's still a friend of his so I know at some point he'll break down. I think for now, he's just thankful it wasn't Tala or Bryan that didn't make it. If it was either of them, he would have broken down right then and there.

"They're bringing his body back now, they'll be here tomorrow for the funeral. Just something small, and then they'll be here to see you."

"Alright…. Thank you, Max." I'm a bit shocked to hear that come from Kai, but I smile all the same. "Where's Goh?"

"He's with his mother right now, I couldn't do anything to keep her away as you both have joint custody of him. She came last night and took him." Once again Kai's body tenses at the news, but eventually he relaxes.

"That's fine, he'll be better off with her for now until we get out of here."

"Right, I'm gonna step out and give Tyson and the others a call really quick. Let them know you're awake now." With that I can hear Max leave the room again, the door closes quietly and we're left alone once again.

"Do you hate me?" He asks rather quietly.

"For what exactly? Thinking that clone was me, having sex with said clone? Getting shot at and nearly dying? I can think of a few things that would warrant me to be angry and even hate you for, but no… I don't hate you." I wish I could see his face, I'd give my right arm just to see his reaction to the fact that I saw all that. It still hurts to think of, but it's the truth, I don't hate him.

"How… How did you know?"

"That stupid choker… It was a camera, and they made me watch him interact with you all… That was when I broke free, I was so angry I just lost control. If I knew I had it in me, I would have gotten out of there sooner. But they broke me down so many times, that I just felt helpless that I didn't bother fighting back."

"That's why your hair is short." Yes, captain obvious. "What else did they do to you?" There's anger in his tone, so I run through what they did to me and every now and then he growls or tenses under me. His hold on my hand, and the one still cupping my cheek don't leave though.

After telling him everything we go silent, and we just enjoy each other's company. Even after the hell we've both been through, I know we'll be able to get through this together. It's what we've wanted all along, and I won't dare back out now.

* * *

 **Kai's POV/ Four Months Later**

Every morning, since those bandages came off I wake up to those golden eyes I've fallen in love with. Every morning he'll kiss me good morning, and I him. This was what we longed for, this sort of peace to be together like this. Why was I such a fool to have left him all those years ago?

For the first month he was depressed, as was expected. He wasn't allowed to call Rin, and sometimes it still gets him down. He'll put on a brave face for Goh whenever we have him though, and he'll put on that brave face for me as well. I don't ask him too, but he does it all the same.

Using the money that rightfully belonged to me after Voltaire's death, I was able to move us into a new place. This place is our home, where we'll start anew. We don't live too far from thing 1 and thing 2, sometimes I can't even get them to go back to their own house. Ray enjoys their company though, and Tyson and the others came last month to see him.

Every day I will strive to keep that smile on his face, he's been through too much, just as I have, to let it waver. Goh has been getting the help he needs, it's taking time but he's slowly coming back around to being his old self too. For a while it felt like fate was doing all it could to knock me down, but I still came out on top in the end. I have the love of my life, my son, and my friends still all alive. We're safe, will be safe until we die of old age. So, if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. FUCK YOU TOO FATE!


End file.
